"Not like people lie about their age on the internet": TikTok 60-minute screentime limit leaves users skeptical

TikTok is on a spree of making the platform stricter for users under the age of 18. On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, the short-video-sharing platform introduced a brand new change, under which users under 18 will not be able to use the app for more than 60 minutes.

This means that as soon as the time limit is reached, the teens will be prompted to enter their phone’s passcode, allowing them to continue watching the videos. As per the social media application, enabling the automatic 60-minute screen time limit will require the users to make an active decision to keep scrolling.

The company also offers the underage audience to opt out of the feature if they wish to. However, the application will prompt them to set a limit to their viewing once they reach the limit of 100 minutes a day on the platform.

Needless to say, the new feature has already garnered reactions from social media users some of whom are saying that teens could lie about their age on the internet.

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Netizens have concerns about TikTok's new reduced screen time for teens

Since the company made major changes to features on the application, netizens have opinions and. thoughts about the screen time. THey have taken to social media to share their thoughts and concerns, and many even pointed out that teens could easily change their year of birth to red rid of the 60-minute screen time.

However, there were some people who wondered how anyone could spend over an hour on TikTok.

Social media users seem unhappy after the short video sharing application made changes to the viewing policies for the teens. (Image via Twitter)

Twitter users expressed concern after TikTok made major changes to the app for teens. (Image via Twitter)

Twitter users claimed that kids can easily change their age on the platform to get rid of the screen time limit. (Image via Twitter)

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What made TikTok set a limit of 60 minutes of viewing for the teens on the platform?

As the short video app made the new change, they revealed that they did so to curb the screen time of the kids who stare at it for hours. The same has been done while keeping the study from the Pew Research Center in mind. The study claimed that 67% of American teenagers used TikTok, with 16% of all teens saying they used it “constantly.”

The change was also because many parents have been constantly complaining about their teen child being on the app for hours.

Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety at the company, talked about it and said that they understand that each teen and each family is different. Which was why the company "focused on reaching parents with the information they need about TikTok."

Keenan added that they believe that digital experiences across platforms need to bring joy and play a positive role in multiple things. These include how people express themselves, discover ideas and connect.