TikTok Feature to Enable Scheduled Breaks in Screen Time

Tiktok screentime break

TikTok has announced new features are coming to help manage digital well-being, my enabling regular breaks in screen time.

The popular social media app already allows daily screen time limits, but an upcoming feature will allow for regular screen time breaks, in the form of prompted reminders after watching videos for a specific amount of uninterrupted time.

These break reminders can be scheduled to pop up after intervals of 10, 20 or 30 minutes of uninterrupted viewing time. A custom time option is available and the option to turn the feature off altogether. TikTok videos are short form and are made to go viral so it can be addicting to watch one after another, non-stop.

TikTok’s Jordan Furlong, Product Manager, Digital Well-being, explains a new screen time dashboard “will also give our community data about how much time they are spending on TikTok, with summaries of their daily time spent on the app, the number of times they opened the app, and a breakdown of daytime and night-time usage.”

It will also be possible to opt into weekly notifications to review from their dashboard.

Meanwhile, the TikTok Safety Centre has published a new guide on digital well-being. Also coming are digital well-being prompts for younger audiences aged between 13 and 17, that have used TikTop for over 100 minutes (1 hour and 40 minutes) in a single day, to use the new screen time limit tool

“We hope these new digital well-being tools continue to support our community in fostering a positive relationship with TikTok. We will continue to invest in protecting the well-being of people so that our community can feel in control of their TikTok experience and empowered to express their creativity, make meaningful connections and enjoy culture-defining entertainment,” added Furlong, in an emailed statement to iPhone in Canada.

One can only watch TikTok videos in a dark room with a blanket over their head (while hissing at mom and dad when they crack open the door) for so long in a day. These upcoming screen break tools might do some good, or be ignored altogether like those pesky iOS screen time reports every Sunday.

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