Here's good news (and a not-so-good-one for teenage kids) to parents whose kids are so obsessed with TikTok. In an initiative to limit the time young people spend on the famous app, the latter introduced early today its new parental control feature, allowing adults to set the amount of time their kids can use the frequently-used short video sharing app. Called the Family Safety Mode, this additional feature will enable parents to be in control of their kids' screen time. It also lets them limit the incoming messages of their teenage sons and daughters and restricts the content which they may find inappropriate.
Family Safety Mode, as described in the blog post the Digital Trends released, "links a parent's TikTok account with his child's account." This then requires an adult to create his own account to monitor his child's TikTok activities. Since this world-famous app's audience comprises mainly of teens, the parental controls are expected to impact its largest user-base directly. More so, the parental control feature is also meant to help the younger users to practice and apply in their everyday lives, better digital well-being.
For the Users' Well-being
In the said announcement, TikTok trust and safety head Cormac Keenan said, "As part of our commitment to safety, the well-being of users is incredibly important to us." The company head added, it is the company's objective to have fun on the app. However, he emphasized, it is essential for the firm to look after the app's users' well-being, and this means achieving a healthy relationship with online services and apps.
In less than two years, TikTok has swiftly accumulated over a billion users and over 700 million downloads worldwide. This video-sharing app allows the users to record short videos of themselves then attach music or sounds to them. In addition, the app offers other customization choices, too, like stickers, special effects, and filters, making it quite popular among the younger audiences.
Family Safety Mode
As earlier mentioned, with the new Family Safety Mode, parents can manage and control how long their kids are allowed to use TikTok. In a statement, Keenan made its latest addition to TikTok's latest offerings, which is only one of the new efforts that the app's users may see popping on their timeline. And, to strengthen its presence in the social networking world, and promote Tiktok's functionality, the company has collaborated with some of its most-followed personalities to make videos reminding the users to get off TikTok.
For those whose TikTok account doesn't have the Family Safety Mode yet, you can simply scroll past the videos. However, those using the app with parental controls cannot watch and enjoy videos any longer. Other than the said restrictions, this new TikTok feature allows the parents too, to limit and control who can send direct messages to their teenage child. More so, they can also completely turn off the option for the direct messaging function.
Here's the best thing about the Family Safety Mode: Parents can limit the content type their kids see while using TikTok. The only drawback at present, though, is that this feature is currently available only in the United Kingdom. But fret not, if you are a user outside the U.K. This new feature is about to roll out to other markets a few weeks from now.
