by Timaya Pulliam ‘23

The social platform TikTok is creating a new default setting for users under 18 years old, where there will be a one-hour daily screen time maximum. The company worked with the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital to create the limit. The restriction is being introduced to stop young people from nonstop scrolling. Setting these boundaries will help youngsters spend their time more wisely as well as assist with emotional development. Once users reach the 60-minute limit, they must enter a passcode to continue their time on the app, making them actively think about their technology use. If a consumer turns off their default limit, once they spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok, they will be encouraged to set a daily time limit for themselves.

TikTok can become an addiction for users without them realizing it. The short, endless videos can cause people, young and old, to lose track of time, so having a limit is important. The time restriction can allow adolescents to recognize how much time they may be spending on TikTok and help them with time management as well as other non-technology-related activities. For now, the time restriction is a step in the right direction; however, the limit may lose its effectiveness if the consumer becomes accustomed to quickly entering their passcode and continuing their time on TikTok.