It seems that all is not lost. If there are countries that directly recommend not installing TikTok, while the challenges that are published in this app continue to cross the line of dangerous, now the social network of Chinese origin has launched a new function that limits its use time to 1 hour a day for those under 18 years of age.
“In the coming weeks – they explain in a statement – all user accounts under 18 years of age will automatically have a limit of 60 minutes of screen time per day. Although there is no common position on the proper time, TikTok has consulted academic research and experts at Children’s Hospital Boston when choosing this limit. If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode to continue viewing content, forcing them to make an active decision to extend that time.”
Although it is not a prohibition to continue on the network and it is easily avoidable (just enter a password to continue using the app), it does create an interesting commitment between parents and minors… at least up to a certain age. Parents can create a password that only they know to activate this option if they choose to do so. In a few words: TikTok has thrown the amount of hours that they can use the social network on the roof of the tutors. According to the statement, “you can disable the feature entirely, but if you do so and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok per day, you’ll be prompted to set a new limit.”
From TikTok they affirm that these indications increased the use of their screen time management tools by 234% during the first month of testing. Teens will also receive an inbox notification each week summarizing their screen time, letting younger users know how much time they spend in the app and requiring them to make active decisions to extend their recommended screen time. The 60-minute time limit will apply to children under 13 years of age in a more restrictive way. In this case, an adult will need to set up or enter an existing passcode to enable 30 minutes of additional viewing time on the account if the screen time limit is reached.
But this is not the only function that will soon be available. Four new features will also be added to Family Pairing, TikTok’s customizable parental controls that allow a parent or guardian to link their TikTok account to the account of a younger user. Custom limits may apply, allowing restrictions to be adjusted based on the day of the week (or extended during school holidays). Another advance is that notifications will be silenced by default: “TikTok is introducing a new setting that allows parents to set a time to silence notifications from their teenagers. Accounts from 13 to 15 years old no longer receive notifications after 9 p.m. and those from 16 to 17 years old have them deactivated after 10 p.m. ”, explains Cormac Keenan, director of the security area of the app.
Finally, TikTok claims to be developing new content controls that will allow you to filter videos with words or hashtags They don’t want their children to see. The company is working with “parent, youth, and civil society organizations” over the next few weeks to design the feature.
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