A few months ago, short-form video hosting giant TikTok began experimenting with features to discourage late-night app use in teens. The “wind down” feature would show a calm, meditative prompt after 22h00, encouraging teens to log off, and was controllable by parents. The app is now choosing to roll out the feature for everyone, and is activated by default for all under-18s.
TikTok makes teens take ten
Any teen who finds themselves doomscrolling past 22h00 should see the relaxing, full-screen guided meditation exercise. The exercise encourages teens to meditate by giving them breathing exercises to slow down their mind and heart rate to create a meditative state. Adults can ignore the prompt if they’d prefer to further disrupt their circadian rhythm, but teen accounts will get a second, less easily dismissible prompt.
As mentioned when TikTok last updated its parental control system, adult guardians will be able to access and reschedule the in-app meditations based on their children’s individualised schedules.
The company claims the Sleep Hours test was successful, with 98% of teens (or their parents) opting to keep the reminder on. The success of TikTok’s efforts to limit screen time has been called into question before. Documents revealed in a lawsuit against the social media company showed that teens were spending an average of 107 minutes a day on the app even when restricted to 60 minutes.
The company is also donating $2.3 million in ad credits to mental health organisations in 22 countries around the world, including Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. This should provide further much-needed exposure to mental health awareness campaigns for vulnerable teens on the platform. TikTok also plans on helping these organisations sharpen their content strategies to give themselves more visibility and engagement on social media in general.
