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TikTok encourages users to stop endless scrolling

TikTok encourages users to stop endless scrolling

Amid pressure for tech companies to address excessive social media usage, TikTok plans to roll out a set of new features to encourage users to stop infinite scrolling.

In a blog post, the company shared it will let users set custom time limits for how much time they plan to spend using the app. TikTok will then remind users to take a break. According to the company, the prompt will read: “Break reminders help you feel more mindful and balanced on TikTok.”

This is an upgrade from its previous feature, where TikTok allowed users to get notified if they spent more than 40, 60, 90, or 120 minutes on the app per day. A new screen time dashboard will also give users data about how much time they are spending on TikTok, including summaries of their daily time spent on the platform, the number of times they opened the app, and a breakdown of daytime and nighttime usage.

The company also said it will issue users between the ages of 13 and 17 “digital well-being prompts” when they have used the app for more than 100 minutes in a single day. Jordan Furlong, a product manager of digital well-being at TikTok, wrote that the prompts will “remind them of our screen time limit tool the next time they open the app.”

Other social media platforms have previously announced similar initiatives. In December last year, Instagram launched its “Take a Break” tool, which encouraged users to spend some time away from the platform after they’ve been scrolling for a certain period of time.

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