TikTok Will Limit Teens To 60 Minutes of Screen Time a Day (theverge.com) 46
TikTok has announced a batch of new features intended to reduce screen time and improve the well-being of its younger users. The Verge reports: In the coming weeks, a daily screen time limit of 60 minutes will be automatically applied to every TikTok user under 18 years old. Teens that hit this limit will be asked to enter a passcode to continue watching. They can disable the feature entirely, but if they do so and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok a day, they'll be prompted to set a new limit.
TikTok claims these prompts increased the use of its screen time management tools by 234 percent during the feature's first month of testing. Teens will also be sent an inbox notification each week that recaps their screen time, allowing younger users to be aware of how much time they spend on the app and requiring that they make active decisions to extend the recommended screen time. These weekly updates are available now, alongside prompts to encourage teens to use screen time tools.
TikTok says it consulted current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital when deciding how long the time restriction should be. "While there's no collectively-endorsed position on how much screen time is 'too much', or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we recognize that teens typically require extra support as they start to explore the online world independently," said Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok, in a statement.
TikTok claims these prompts increased the use of its screen time management tools by 234 percent during the feature's first month of testing. Teens will also be sent an inbox notification each week that recaps their screen time, allowing younger users to be aware of how much time they spend on the app and requiring that they make active decisions to extend the recommended screen time. These weekly updates are available now, alongside prompts to encourage teens to use screen time tools.
TikTok says it consulted current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital when deciding how long the time restriction should be. "While there's no collectively-endorsed position on how much screen time is 'too much', or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we recognize that teens typically require extra support as they start to explore the online world independently," said Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok, in a statement.
For now (Score:2)
It will be zero soon enough.
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Yeah...#FuckTikTok.
Hey while I still think they need to be banned as a national security risk....their better start would have been to ban any access at all by those under the age of 18yrs.
For the rest of social media....more and more studies are showing that it is detrimental to our youths' growing brains.
Let's make ALL social media adult only...no access by those under age 18yrs.
This way, they won't be exposed to the adult topics that are harming them. And we might he
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Let's make ALL social media adult only...no access by those under age 18yrs.
Fun fact: The age of sexual consent is 18 in only fifteen states [wikipedia.org]. In the majority of states, the age is actually between 16 and 17.
You also only have to be 17 to enlist in the military [usa.gov]. Not sure how it is in other states, but at least here in Florida, 16 is old enough to get a driver's license. Driving kills about 32k-44k people annually [wikipedia.org].
So, old enough to have sex, old enough to fight a war, old enough to risk your life on the highway, but not old enough to go on TikTok? Yeah, that makes sense. /s
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enough to have sex, old enough to fight a war, old enough to risk your life on the highway, but not old enough to go on TikTok?
Sex is a spontaneous behaviour, military service serves a social purpose. TikTok does serve any positive purpose, it's just an activity among the realm of those one can do, and it has downsides that some understand as higher than the advantages.
BTW Age of consent is only relevant for acts between 18+ and 18-. Two minors of comparable age can engage into sexual behaviours that seem adequate for their age, without formal age limitations.
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Regardless of how you feel about TikTok, it is not objectively more dangerous than activities which can directly result in disease, bodily harm, death, and uh, pregnancy.
Yeah, there's a nebulous claim that watching dumb videos can be harmful to a child's mental well-being, but the same has been said about various other activities, for as long as there have been parents who were horrified to discover that their kids were following a new trend.
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But these are hardly nebulous claims....there are studies published showing, for example, how social media is causing increased levels of depression and other mental problems with teen girls....
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That is not true, at least not in most states. Though rarely prosecuted, two minors engaging in sex can both be prosecuted in many states. There was a case not too long ago when two minors sexting each other were charged with child pornography. And as stated above, states have different ages of consent, Illinois,
Next week's headline: (Score:2)
"Tiktok subscriber rates in the key 18-25 demographic have tripled! Advertising revenue up 130%."
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"Tiktok subscriber rates in the key 18-25 demographic have tripled! Advertising revenue up 130%."
That's the real question, how are they gonna do age verification?
Kinda reminds me of the first time I played the old DOS Leisure Suit Larry game, and it asked a bunch of rather dated age verification trivia questions [allowe.com]. Since this was pre-internet, I just got past the questions I didn't know by trial and error, and made notes of the correct answers. I ended up with a cheat sheet for getting into the game.
Screentime is BS (Score:5, Informative)
You know what it was when I was a kid, nintendo time. I lived on the thing and as an accomplished software developer owe much of my success to being left alone to have all the screentime I wanted.
Blocking kids off tech will just make them hate you and find ways around it. Lets stop taking away anything a child likes then asking why they are dull and lacking any interest.
If a kid is into something you praise your stars and leave them alone to dive in. Like a broken horse once you beat the interest out of them they are never the same.
Re:Screentime is BS (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendo is and was not TikTok.
Generally speaking, video games (emphasis on "game") engage with you on a different level than the addictively crafted platforms like TikTok. Not to say games are not in some way addictive to some people, but at least games can engages problem solving, logic, synthesis, socialization etc. TicTok and the like are designed to manipulate brains to simply keep your attention and build a data profile on you to further manipulate you.
The not completely unfounded fear is the Chinese government has access to all this data and will use it in an adversarial manner. Once we find out the Chinese government is actually doing this, it will be too late. No one likes to be told they need to be re-educated or de-programmed because they've been fed misinformation and lies for months or years. Hell, my dad still believes that the Confederate battle flag can be displayed as a symbol of freedom and rebellion, simply because he was taught not every southerner who served in the Confederate army supported slavery; ergo the flag is not a symbol of racism but instead a symbol self-determination.
"Screen time limit" is a delay tactic (and possible red herring) to get some people off the "ban TikTok" wagon.
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Generally speaking, video games (emphasis on "game") engage with you on a different level than the addictively crafted platforms like TikTok.
You must've missed the whole Jack Thompson [wikipedia.org] ordeal. This (disbarred) lawyer was convinced that video games were turning today's youth into bloodthirsty school shooters. It's a fairly recent thing that we've just started accepting video games as a normal activity, and now it's TikTok's turn to be the bogeyman that is corrupting our youth.
For my generation, the scapegoat was MTV. Video games weren't seen as much of a threat at that point, because the graphics were still kind of pixel-y.
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I was part of the evil crowd that dug Dungeons & Dragons and heavy metal. My grandma refused to allow my D&D books into her home unless I promised to store them under a bible to prevent the evil from escaping. We've come a long ways from there. Now I suppose we gotta keep a bible over the kid's iPad.
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You know what it was when I was a kid, nintendo time. I lived on the thing and as an accomplished software developer owe much of my success to being left alone to have all the screentime I wanted.
I doubt playing Nintendo for hours on end made you a better developer.
There was probably some benefit for the first bit of playing (hand-eye coordination, reaction speed, certain problem solving skills), but for the most part you'd have benefited much more from spending some of those hours on other activities.
Blocking kids off tech will just make them hate you and find ways around it. Lets stop taking away anything a child likes then asking why they are dull and lacking any interest.
If a kid is into something you praise your stars and leave them alone to dive in. Like a broken horse once you beat the interest out of them they are never the same.
The concern is that as the tech increases they become more and more optimized to keeping your attention. There's no shortage of kids who do nothing but bury themselves in the latest site/game and their
Re: Screentime is BS (Score:2)
Being obsessed with Nintendo, and wanting to change the games is the reason I even became one in the first place.
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So "disable entirely" means what? (Score:2)
So... The user can disable the limit "entirely" unless they then exceed 100 minutes, after which they'll have to set a new limit?
Sounds like TikTok doesn't understand what "disable" and "entirely" mean.
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it's just a feature for virtue signalling and appeasing, don't worry about it. Tik tok itself doesn't give a shit how long you use it
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* They will also be sent an inbox notification that recaps their screen time -- like kids give half a shit about that.
Completely pointless bullshit. Nothing more than a half-assed attempt to appease governments who are complaining about them.
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* They will also be sent an inbox notification that recaps their screen time -- like kids give half a shit about that.
Of course they do. They will use this as a scoreboard. Then compare who has the highest score for TikTok use.
I remember the same thing happening in college when a psychology major brought a breathalyzer to a frat party. Chaos ensued as frat boys clamored for the highest score.
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it's just a feature for virtue signalling and appeasing, don't worry about it. Tik tok itself doesn't give a shit how long you use it
Pretty much this. I think there are a lot of other people who should probably limit their time on TikTok. I dunno if you have seen the angry 35+ year old women who are taking raging shitfits because they thought they'd have their fun and then settle down and do fertility treatments and IVF and men would be lined up to marry them?
Dayum! screaming yelling crying, and calling older men who date 25 year old women pedophiles, physically beating their phones.
The new thing is a developing range war - US and
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I kind of feel badly for the Western ladies, who's [sic] terrible attitudes and general misandry have driven men away, and they are trying to fight that problem with terrible attitudes and general misandry.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine has a wife from the Philippines. She's smart, educated, very communicative, friendly and pleasant to be around. They love each other, and have virtually no drama. Another the same situation with a Taiwanese wife, another with a Chinese wife, another with a Eastern European wife. By American standards, at least two of them should be divorced, perhaps three.
Either your sample size is too small to apply American divorce statistics, or my 39 year marriage to a "Western woman" disproves your hypothesis. Pick one.
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I kind of feel badly for the Western ladies, who's [sic] terrible attitudes and general misandry have driven men away, and they are trying to fight that problem with terrible attitudes and general misandry.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine has a wife from the Philippines. She's smart, educated, very communicative, friendly and pleasant to be around. They love each other, and have virtually no drama. Another the same situation with a Taiwanese wife, another with a Chinese wife, another with a Eastern European wife. By American standards, at least two of them should be divorced, perhaps three.
Either your sample size is too small to apply American divorce statistics, or my 39 year marriage to a "Western woman" disproves your hypothesis. Pick one.
It is a bit odd that you take 1 data point and try to refute my at least 4. I have been married fort 46 years now so that doesn't auger one way or another However, every person my wife and I graduated with are divorced. I don't use those because that seems a bit anomalous. Or do you deny the statistics?
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Meanwhile, my neighbor was arrested and spent time in prison for importing Philippine women for "mail-order brides", so color me skeptical.
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Meanwhile, my neighbor was arrested and spent time in prison for importing Philippine women for "mail-order brides", so color me skeptical.
A passport bro is not using a marriage broker. You go to the Philippines, and look for a woman there. No one is paying illegal fees. It's all volunraty, and above board.
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Eventually you'll reach a 24 hour limit, which is called "Off" and they'll move on with their limited data collection.
This is a really good way to benchmark how long a younger demographic uses the app without actually having to be so blunt with the data collection they are allowed to use on 18+ demographic. The users are having to cough up the option to keep it going by entering a code which then validates how long the timer is now set for to TikTok.
Glad I was a kid in the old days (Score:3)
No, I don't mean the days before electronics, I'm not that old. I'm glad my Nintendo, VCR, and later my first PC didn't have any of this "screen time" horse shit. I could goof off without an electronic nanny looking over my shoulder.
Good times.
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Yeah, but back then we had a screen time limiter called "parents". For the younger people here, that were two older folks who lived in the same building we did and had the job that TikTok, Youtube and Facebook have now: Raising us.
Or, in TikTok units, (Score:2)
2000 videos.
See how they framed a "limit" inversely? (Score:2)
Lol. TikTok, CCPing the world 1 mandate at a time (Score:2)
Literally. This is state sponsored malware targeting kids. No one cares.
null and void (Score:2)
Re: null and void (Score:2)
I'm 12.
Every account I made, I set my year of birth to early 2000's so I get all the good stuff.
And that's how most all the other kids do it.
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Seems reasonable (Score:2)
1200 videos per day should be enough for anyone.
Super Spy Hour (Score:2)
Get ready kids, TikTok hour is near! About to vacuum up your life even faster.
Not really a limit (Score:3)
This is just PR to pacify the Chinese govt and/or parents.
It'll warn you when you hit an hour, and then you have to... oh no... ENTER A CODE and just keep using it, until you hit the next warning and then it's really serious, because you have to... ENTER ANOTHER CODE (gasp)!
Surely kids wouldn't just do that all day long to get their TikTok fix.
Purpose (Score:2)
I don't understand the purpose of this limit inside the app. If I install TikTok on my daughter's phone, it will be limited from outside of the app (Family Link, parental control), if she install it by herself, will simply lie about age. So, what is the use case, other than trying to appease governments?
PS: yup, TikTok is her number one requests, all kids in her class have it, she wants it too.
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Is it so far fetched that some of the impacted teens recognize that they're overusing social media and would willingly use the tool to set boundaries?
My iPhone allows me (an adult, if that didn't go without saying) to set time limits for my own usage of apps, even though I could trivially go into the settings and turn off the time limits. I don't personally use the feature, but surely some do.
Desperate Attempt (Score:2)
No one reads warnings or cares about them... (Score:2)
I wouldn't guess at the number of times I've heard a user say “I don't know what happened, or why this is broken!”, for me to ask, “Did you change Y? If you did (and I have the audit log to know that you did), you needed to do Z fir