TikTok recently began experimenting with an in-app meditation feature that encouraged teens to “wind down” after 10PM. Now, the company is making the feature official for all users and turning it on by default for all teens under the age of 18.
With the change, teens will hit a full-screen “guided meditation exercise” when attempting to scroll after 10PM. The prompt is apparently something you can opt to ignore, but teens who do will encounter a second “harder to dismiss” prompt. TikTok’s adult users will also be able to access the in-app meditations via the app’s screen time controls (the feature will not be on by default for adults).
The company notes that its initial tests of “Sleep Hours” were successful, with 98 percent of teens opting to keep the late-night meditation settings on. Previous attempts by TikTok to limit screen time have a somewhat different track record. Documents that surfaced as part of a lawsuit against the company showed that teens were spending about 107 minutes a day in the app even when screen time was set to a 60-minute limit.
Since then, TikTok has beefed up some of its safety features, including its parental controls, amid increasing scrutiny of the company. TikTok’s fate in the US is still, officially, in limbo as President Donald Trump signed off on another extension of a deadline to ban the app last month. Terms of a final deal that will allow it to remain in the country permanently have yet to be announced, though there are a number of interested buyers.
