TikTok will interrupt teens’ late-night doomscrolling with calming music

By Patrick Hearn Published March 11, 2025

The Wind Down feature on TikTok. — TikTok

Most teens have a TikTok account, and now the app plans to interrupt late-night doomscrolling with a fullscreen reminder to take a deep breath, wind down, and prepare for bed. Recently, TikTok has placed a heavier emphasis on the safety and well-being of its younger user base by adding more parental controls.

Aside from the addition of the meditation feature, this update gives parents more control over the content their child can view on the app. Parents can re-enable the dedicated STEM feed if it has been disabled and set customizable daily screen time limits. By default, all TikTok users under 18 have a one-hour daily limit.

Recommended Videos

Another feature is that parents can switch an account back to private, even if their child made it public. The Time Away feature allows parents to block TikTok access during specific time frames, such as during school hours or dinner.

TikTok — Bryan M. Wolfe / Digital Trends

Parental controls like this, along with greater awareness of the effect of social media and short-form content on a teen’s mental health, can help stem the worsening of problems like depression and anxiety. Numerous studies have shown that TikTok can have a negative impact on mental health, while others show that the quick dopamine bursts gained from watching short-form videos can reduce attention spans.

The wind down feature, as TikTok calls it, reminds teens to take a break. It launches a full-screen takeover that plays “calming music” and asks teens to perform a breathing exercise. If they continue to use the app after the first reminder, TikTok will display another that is harder to dismiss.

According to Dr. Vicki Harrison, a member of TikTok’s Content Advisory Counsel, “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. Prioritizing sleep, balanced usage and more parent-teen interactions around social media use are all positive steps that I hope we see more of.”

TikTok doesn’t allow users under the age of 13 and automatically blocks nighttime push notifications to all users under the age of 16.

Former Technology Writer

Patrick has written about tech for more than 15 years and isn't slowing down anytime soon. With previous clients ranging from…

Topics

Phones

The Pixel 11 gives me three reasons to ditch my iPhone 17, and I’m afraid they’ll work

Google’s latest entry-level flagship makes my iPhone 17 look a lot less compelling.

Electronics, Mobile Phone, Phone

As someone who reviews smartphones for a living, upgrading every year isn't optional. It's part of the job, and as an iPhone user, it's an easy call. This year, I expected to move from my baseline iPhone 17 to Apple's next baseline model, the iPhone 18. Except Apple might not even launch it this September.

Pegatron, one of Apple's suppliers, indicated on an August 12 earnings call that the standard iPhone 18 isn't coming next month (via Deccan Chronicle). Only the Pro, Pro Max, and the rumored foldable "Ultra" are expected, with the base model pushed to early 2027. That alone would derail my plans. But it's just one domino in a longer line for Apple: the Pixel 11.

Phones

Cracking your Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra screen could cost $639, so handle it carefully

Samsung's new numbers put an exact, and fairly painful, figure on just how much pricier.

Computer, Electronics, Tablet Computer

Cracking your foldable's screen has always been an expensive mistake, but Samsung just put an actual price on it this year, and believe me, it’s more expensive than I initially thought it would be.

The company confirmed official repair pricing for the entire Galaxy Z Fold 8 lineup, and fixing the inner display alone can cost more than some budget phones do new. Given that more people are buying into the category, making these revised repair costs all the more important to know before you take the plunge.

Phones

I’ve waited far too long for Pixels to get this stupidly simple gesture

Just ship the double-tap-to-lock gesture already Google.

Electronics, Mobile Phone, Phone

Every time I switch from any Android phone to a Pixel, there's one small gesture missing that always annoys me. From a modern Galaxy phone or even a device from Xiaomi, I can double-tap an empty part of the home screen and immediately turn the display off. Samsung has offered a double-tap to turn off the screen since Android 11. On a Pixel, I still have to reach for the power button.

To be fair, Google isn't the only offender, and Motorola's stock Android phones, like the Razr Fold, also skip such a basic feature. But this might be changing soon. Android Authority has discovered updated code strings inside Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 pointing to Google’s long-in-development double-tap-to-sleep feature. Better still, Google appears to have expanded it beyond the lock screen and onto the home screen, which is exactly where I want it.