TikTok Introduces Mood Music to Help Teens Relax

Around the world, millions of individuals use it as their preferred social media app.

But if you’re under 16, your TikTok experience is going to alter. With a new reminder to stop teens from using the app at night and additional controls for parents, TikTok is attempting to address safety concerns despite the uncertainty surrounding the ban. If a teen under the age of 16 continues to use the app after 10 PM, TikTok will interrupt their feed with a full-screen “wind down” reminder that will play “calming music to help teens relax and be mindful of the time.”

‘Wind Down’ is a new mindfulness feature that the video app has released to assist teens unwind before bed and step away from the app’s stream.

Additionally, TikTok is updating its Family Pairing function, which now allows parents to place limits on their child’s account. It’s introducing a new Time Away tool that will let parents or guardians create a repeating schedule and stop their kids from using TikTok during particular hours. Additionally, TikTok will allow parents to see whose accounts their kid has banned, who their teen is following, and who follows them.

Teens can disregard TikTok’s first reminder at 10 PM, but it will show another, more difficult-to-ignore notice. TikTok intends to try adding meditation activities to the reminder “in the coming weeks,” as part of its future ambitions to develop this wind-down tool which will play soothing music and interrupt the For You feed with a full screen takeover.

The social media giant announced that it would start testing more meditation activities as part of the feature in the upcoming weeks.

It is part of a larger upgrade from TikTok and is said to be the first time a social media network has sent mindfulness tools straight to users.

Additionally, it has additional parental control features, such as Time Away, which lets parents prevent their teenagers from using TikTok during certain hours, including dinner, school, the evening, or a holiday.

Up until recently, parents could set screen time limits in hours and nights on TikTok and other social media sites, but not in precise daytime schedules.

After that, they will have the choice to either turn off or keep scrolling.

Following this initial reminder, the youngster will be presented with a second, difficult-to-ignore, full-screen prompt if they choose to spend more time on TikTok.  

“As previously, we purposefully avoid sending teens push notifications at night, which is unchangeable,” TikTok clarified.

‘Balanced long-term behaviours’ are the goal of the tool, according to the app.

“By offering positive nudges that can assist teens in developing balanced, long-term habits, we designed these features to reflect best practices in behaviour change theory,” the statement said. 

Furthermore, TikTok claims it will keep employing machine learning and other age assurance technologies to keep kids under the age of 13 off the service. In order to “understand how people can use age information from their phone provider to confirm their age,” it is collaborating with the telecom business Telefonica. Additionally, Google recently declared that it will begin estimating users’ ages using machine learning.

According to TikTok, the technology has so far been successfully tested in a number of nations.

“The great majority of teenagers choose to keep this reminder on in countries where it has already been piloted,” it continued.

Since mindful meditation has been shown to enhance the quality of sleep, we’ll also try including meditation activities into the wind-down reminder in the upcoming weeks.

Parents can now see who their child is following, who is following them, and whose accounts their kid has banned thanks to TikTok’s new Family Pairing function.

According to TikTok, “parents will be better equipped to have ongoing conversations and help their teens develop the digital literacy skills they need with increased visibility into their teen’s network.”

The revisions were praised by Carolyn Bunting, co-CEO of Internet Matters.

“At Internet Matters, we understand how important it is for parents to help their kids stay safe and healthy online,” she added.

We applaud today’s announcement of improvements to Family Pairing, which will allow parents more visibility and control over their kids’ TikTok experiences and more peace of mind when their adolescent is using the app. 

“We are also happy to see the launch of the Wind Down reminder, which will help parents support their children in developing positive digital habits that in turn promote online safety, in addition to having regular conversations about life online.”