TikTok is rolling out several new features to improve users’ digital well-being and mental health. Among them are an affirmation journal and a background sound generator. The social network is also introducing a badge system to encourage users to take control of their time spent on the app, TechCrunch reports.
The company has updated its screen time management page with the following tools:
- Affirmation journal: Contains over 120 positive prompts to help users set their intentions for the day.
- Sound generator: Allows you to turn on soothing sounds, such as rain or ocean waves.
- Breathing exercise module.
TikTok is introducing digital badges for the first time to reward users who adhere to the platform’s established limits on use, including teenagers. This approach was chosen after a review of the academic literature, which showed that overly restrictive tools can hurt teens.
To earn the badge, users must complete a series of “missions”:
- Sleep Mission: Avoid using the app at night.
- Set a limit: Use the app only within a set daily limit.
- Use new meditation tools and view a weekly screen time report.
TikTok is also featuring content from creators on this page discussing screen time limits and parental controls.
The company has found that this encouraging approach, rather than strict limits, is well received by teens. In testing, the affirmation journal was the most popular new feature.
TikTok said it will display links to these tools when someone uses the app at night or reaches their daily screen time limit.
In July, the company launched new parental control tools, allowing parents to block certain accounts and receive notifications when teens upload public videos or stories. In the past month, tech companies, including Meta, YouTube, OpenAI, and Discord, have added new safety tools to help keep teens safe.