Can TikTok Help Young People Take a Break From Screens?

How do you stop doomscrolling? By setting a time limit? Putting your phone in a different room? Deleting the app?

- Sadiba Hasan

NEW YORK —

On May 15, TikTok announced a new option: a nightly in-app guided meditation exercise that is switched on by default for users younger than 18.

At 10 p.m., their For You Page is overtaken by a blue screen and relaxing music, and the user is guided to "inhale," "hold," and "exhale."

The idea is that "after that meditation is over, you put down your phone," said Dr. Willoughby Jenkins, a child psychiatrist who shares mental health-related content on the app. TikTok enlisted her as a paid partner to help promote the initiative.

Users who opt in to the function can dismiss the guided meditation and return to scrolling, but if they are still on the app after an hour, they are shown a second, full-screen prompt that requires them to select an option: Keep using the app for 15 more minutes, opt out of any additional notifications for the day, or go to their settings to make changes.