Problem
Users
Internal studies showed that people weren’t aware of how much time they spent on TikTok
Some people spent more time on TikTok than they wanted, which interfered with important areas of life such as work, school, family, and sleep
Research
People who spent 6+ hours per day on screens had a higher risk for depression (National Library of Medicine)
Children who spent 2+ hours per day on screens scored lower on thinking and language tests (National Institute of Health)
Children who spent 7+ hours on screens had thinning of the brain’s cortex, which is related to critical thinking and reasoning (National Institute of Health)
Opportunity
Empower people to manage their screen time effectively
Help people be more mindful and in control of their time spent on TikTok (to increase their agency)
Help users who don’t spend an extreme amount of time on TikTok but signal that they need support in managing their screen time
Strategy
Developed subject matter expertise
Attended a conference on problematic interactive media use, led by Boston Children’s Hospital, which helped me shape the direction of this feature and influence screen time product strategy
Proactively identified a takeaway to my screen time work: “Avoid language that evokes screen time limits. We hear a lot about screen time limits, by no one wants to be limited. Instead, it’s about valuable media usage vs. invaluable usage.”
Drove messaging strategy
Succeeded in convincing the product team, and communications and policy stakeholders, that removing the term “limit” from our UI language would be worthwhile
My recommendation also connected well with our broader goals for screen time: help people have more control and agency over their screen time behavior, without glaring restraints
Outcome
Increased "Daily screen time" DAU for all
6.4x increase in daily active users, driving user awareness and trust
1,900+ social media mentions, 3,800+ social media engagements, and 100+ million people reached across the globe
Increased "Daily screen time" adoption rate for minors
55% increase in the adoption rate for users under 18
50% increase in our under-18 safety tool adoption rate; 99.7% of this was driven by the screen time default for minors, a feature that had high significance to the company to become a trusted brand
Overall increases across “Screen time”
75% increase in daily active users
154% increase in daily active users for people under 18
Scaled screen time from 1 lightweight feature to an industry-leading suite of well-being tools, exceeding targets for awareness:
68 million page views
100+ million PR impressions
19.2 million daily active users (up from 1.5 million)
High-impact articles
—> TikTok Sets Default Daily Screen Time Limit For Under 18s (Forbes)
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