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AG (Attention Getter)

It's a social media platform that has become iconic in just a few years, had had several major controversies, and has questionable leadership. And although what probably comes to your mind is Twitter, we're talking about TikTok.

BG (Background)

TikTok, the popular app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, was founded in 2016 and is known for its style of short video clips, often with music. The platform has also been used for activism, particularly in the areas of climate change, and was also a key part of the teen-organized Trump rally protest a few years ago. Recently, the app has added new screen time limits for minors.

Q (Question)

What will be the long term impact of TikTok's daily usage limit for minors?

Answer (Summary Of Speech)

Realistically speaking, the new daily usage limits on TikTok won't have much of an impact. This is because like other systems, kids can easily exploit the limits, many parents/families won't use it, and phones are still a distraction as a whole.

R1 (First Reason)

Kids have already found workarounds for the new limits. TIME 3-2-23 explains that teens are essentially unfazed by the new feature, and have already discovered ways to bypass it. This is largely the same thing that happened with Apple's Screen Time system, as well as other major companies. The reality is that the more we restrict things for kids, the more pushback/resistance we will face as a result. All in all, it just isn't very effective.

R2 (Second Reason)

Many parents & families won't even enable the new setting, making it useless. Statista '21 shows that just 48% of parents limit their children's screen time at all, and those who do mainly use the honor system or simply take their devices themselves, Plus, there is a global average of six hours and fifty-eight minutes of screen time for adults and minors together. This shows that this new limit won't make a dent in the overall screen time that most people have. Also, other apps already have limits and phone-wide limits are already possible through the phone's operating system, so this isn't that new.

R3 (Third Reason)

The presence of screens, and technology as a whole is still an issue. Pew Research Center 7-28-2020 says that many kids under 12 already have their own device, and devices are also used in schools, for hours each day. Plus, as more and more goes digital, in any aspect of life, it becomes increasingly harder to avoid using screens in some capacity, whether it be phones, computers, gaming consoles, TVs, or anything else. They are all just as harmful, and none of them are going away.

C (Conclusion)

So we know that TikTok's new limit for minors really won't have much of an effect. This is because it won't stop kids as they can bypass it, most families won't implement it in the first place, and other screens/media are still present anyways. If we want a better solution, it needs to be on a family-to-family basis where each family figures it out the best plan for them.