TikTok's 'Wind Down' Mode Encourages Healthy Screen Time Habits for Teens
TikTok is enhancing its safety measures for teenage users by introducing a "Wind Down" feature designed to promote healthier screen time habits. Starting today, users under 16 who are active on the app after 10 PM will encounter full-screen reminders accompanied by calming music, encouraging them to log off and prepare for rest. This initiative aims to help teens be mindful of the time and foster better digital well-being practices.
Enhanced Parental Controls
In conjunction with the "Wind Down" feature, TikTok is updating its Family Pairing settings to offer parents more control over their children's app usage. The new "Time Away" setting allows parents or caregivers to restrict app access during specific periods, such as family meals, school hours, or bedtime. Additionally, parents can now monitor their teen's follower activity, including who their child follows, who follows them, and which accounts have been blocked. These enhancements aim to provide a safer and more controlled environment for younger users.
Future Developments
Looking ahead, TikTok plans to expand the "Wind Down" feature by incorporating guided meditation exercises into the reminders. This addition is intended to further assist teens in transitioning from screen time to sleep, promoting relaxation and mindfulness. The platform is also exploring advancements in age verification technology, including collaborations with companies like Telefonica and the use of machine learning, to ensure compliance with age restrictions and enhance user safety.
Addressing Concerns and Responsibilities
These updates come amid growing concerns about the impact of social media on children's well-being. While the new controls empower parents to manage their children's digital habits more effectively, child protection groups emphasize the need for platforms to take proactive measures in ensuring safety, rather than solely relying on parental oversight. Ofcom's chief executive has highlighted the importance of platforms fulfilling their responsibilities to create safer online environments for younger audiences.
By implementing these features, TikTok demonstrates its commitment to promoting healthier digital habits and enhancing the safety of its teenage users, balancing engaging content with the well-being of its community.
Source: The Verge
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TikTok and “Healthy Screen Time” should never be in one sentence. All point of this app is to addict kids to the phone screen.
I’ve seen plenty of adults use it. During lunch breaks, I had a colleague who would eat and scroll through that app, occasionally showing me stupid videos from it. I had never experienced TikTok in person until then, always thought it was really stupid brain rot and I confirmed my assumptions.
The content it feeds you are shor, out context, stupid videos, even if the topic is serious, I would prefer to see them from the source, as well as knowing who made it and where it was hosted so I know if it’s true or just propaganda. Watching small bits out of context is deceiving and blindly believing it, like my colleague did, is naive and childish. He would trust all kind of garbage, because it was posted by someone in his native language or because the clip is from a media outlet in his native language and then try to explain to me how it’s true, “because they always say things how they are”.
It’s stupid and sad to know how many people are hooked on this short content garbage. Not only that, but the short content is really annoying to me. I prefer to watch or listen to things that are at least 10 minutes long, so there is a proper exposition, also I prefer reading lengthy articles with much detail than this short form format, because taking everything out of context, makes it easy to twist it however you want.
YouTube also has Shorts, and I don’t like those either, I never watch them and when a friend sends them to me, even if they are educational, I always prefer the full version.
In my opinion, the short videos are aimed either at stupid people, or the goal is to make more people stupid.