TikTok's Newest Move Aims To Help Teens Get Better Sleep at Night
Teenagers are getting more tired — and it's no surprise that phones play a role. The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 77% of U.S. high school students in 2021 didn't get their recommended 8 hours of sleep at night, which has prompted some high schools to teach critical sleep training classes. And now, the popular social media app TikTok is doing its part to help as well. The app announced Thursday that they are expanding its focus on prioritizing teens' well-being by launching an in-app meditation guide that will be mandatory for those under 18 after 10 p.m.
The program is called Meditation in Sleep Hours, which will be turned on by default for teens and can be added for any user. It works like this: once the clock strikes 10 p.m., the app's For You feed will be interrupted by a guided mediation exercise to encourage users to relax their mind and go to sleep. This meditation takes over your entire screen and plays music and calming words to help you relax. When TikTok did a feature test of this mandatory meditation, 98% of their teen users opted to keep the meditation experience on, which shows how much teens want help in getting better sleep.
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In March,TikTok launched a Time Away feature that allows parents to block their teens from being on TikTok during certain times (like bedtime). 'Teens can request extra time, but parents make the final decision,' the company said in a press release, adding that everyone under 18 will automatically have a 1-hour daily screen time limit. TikTok also gave parents the ability to see who their teen is following, who follows back, and who their teen has blocked.
'TikTok has responded to calls from both youth and their families for more tools that will help them support their wellbeing while using the app,' Dr. Vicki Harrison, a member of TikTok's Content Advisory Counsel and Program Director for Stanford's Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing, said in a statement. 'Prioritizing sleep, balanced usage and more parent-teen interactions around social media use are all positive steps that I hope we see more of.'
According to the Pew Research Center, 6 in 10 teens use TikTok daily, with 16% admitting to being on it 'almost constantly.' It's no surprise they might need a little help turning off their devices!
Theo, 15, who is part of SheKnows' Teen Council, told SheKnows in April that he could see the silver lining if the app was actually banned.
'Do I wish it would be banned for my mental health and time management? Low-key, yeah, 'cause I think I spend way too much time on TikTok,' he said. 'Doing other stuff in the time I'm spending on TikTok would just be so much better for me. Reading or eating … just not being on a screen and scrolling for hours.'
According to the Sleep Foundation, using electronic devices for long periods during the day and night (especially for adolescents) can make it harder to sleep. The organization recommends not having screens for at least an hour before bed, sleeping with all electronic devices in another room, and spending less time on electronic devices in general.
For teens who are night owls, TikTok's latest move will make it that much easier to follow these recommendations.Best of SheKnows
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