TikTok is pitching its new wellness features as a win for young users’ health, but some fear it's a sign tech companies are taking another step toward monopolizing downtime in order to collect more data.

Vancouver

TikTok has introduced a new 'time and wellness space' feature designed to encourage users, particularly young people, to take breaks and engage in activities such as breathing exercises, journaling, and listening to calming sounds. The platform states that these features were developed in response to feedback from teens seeking tools to support their well-being.

The launch comes as TikTok faces lawsuits in the U.S. and a ban for children under 16 in Australia, with ongoing concerns about the platform's impact on youth mental health. While some see the new wellness features as a positive step, others, including privacy experts, warn that they may serve as another means for data collection, prompting renewed calls for stronger online privacy legislation.

TikTok's new wellness features spark concern

Tick tock has faced a lot of pressure in the past year, several lawsuits in the U.S. a complete ban for children under the age of 16 in Australia. Now the social media platform has rolled out a new wellness feature. It says it will help build healthy habits here to break down whether or not this is a positive shift or maybe it's just another way to collect more data. I've got to be British putting so what exactly if you're using tiktok what you're going to see. Well from the app you've probably heard of doing scrolling, you know video after video after video it can feel pretty addictive. So that's why tiktok has created this time and wellness space. It's really about having people unwind to take a break that might look like doing a breathing exercise or journaling or getting a positive affirmation on this app even listening to the sounds of the ocean. They've even allowed people to now go on these missions where for example, you don't use this app overnight, you could get a badge. If you invite people to do more of this wellness stuff there's an incentive in there for you and tiktok says it's it's really about keeping their young audience in mind, let me just show you a bit of that space and what it looks like very different from the experience you might be used to of course, so here you can do that time and well-being breathing exercise relax your mind, you've got these cool colors to make it feel like somewhat of a peaceful space as well Sir, and there you have your affirmations and journaling. They're not yeah, okay, yeah, well, I mean this also comes that time that tiktok faces numerous lawsuits right for alleged harm, especially when it comes to teen mental health. Yeah, I think when you look at the reaction, there are some influencers out there who are saying this could be a good thing to give users some peace of mind, especially if they're younger folks who are on this app and then we've also heard from tiktok which said that they created this is a tool after getting feedback from teens who said they want something like this to help them out. So there's that part of it. We've also heard from Riley McNair who's a PhD student at the University of Toronto who said it's getting harder and harder to find some downtime without being tracked or monetizing that from tech companies and she says she sees this as a way to collect data. We heard from another expert who said that usually tiktok's been pretty proactive when it comes to criticism about youth mental health and he says perhaps this is their opportunity to tap into that well-being space which is pretty popular when it comes to those apps. It's also renewed those calls to have more legislation that looks into young people and the tools are using online and what that really means for their privacy and of course you have the other method of taking a break which is just putting away the phone putting away the screen actually going to the beach to some yoga perhaps or you know doing it taking that exercise beyond the screen. And that's why I do wonder that I look at those images and I think well they're not quite as you know sexy as all of the videos and will that be what you really want to look at as as opposed to maybe just put it away, but we'll find out yeah, I think the need. Thank you.

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