TikTok wants to help people unplug, but not everyone wants a digital detox

Feeling like you’ve overdone it on the scrolling? Now you can take a break from TikTok to meditate—without ever leaving the app. TikTok’s new in-app meditation feature, announced Thursday, was first tested earlier this year with a group of teen users and is now rolling out to everyone. Designed to improve sleep quality, the meditations activate during designated “sleep hours” and serve as a gentle nudge to put the phone down during a late-night scroll session. For users younger than 18, the feature is enabled by default. If teens are still on the app after 10 p.m., their For You feed will be interrupted by calming music and breathing exercises. If ignored, the prompt returns to remind them it’s time for bed. Adults who want a similar reminder can set their own bedtime in TikTok’s Screen Time settings. Although the meditation can be skipped, TikTok says 98% of teens who encountered it during testing chose to keep it on. Still, not everyone appreciated the intervention. “I disabled it, ima scroll how long I want on my phone,” one TikTok user commented. “Why do they care how late we are on TikTok?” another asked. “To Instagram I go,” added a third. @cbsmornings TikTok is launching a new feature to encourage users to stop scrolling late at night in the form of an in-app guided meditation session

May 17, 2025 - 00:12

TikTok wants to help people unplug, but not everyone wants a digital detox

Feeling like you’ve overdone it on the scrolling? Now you can take a break from TikTok to meditate—without ever leaving the app.

TikTok’s new in-app meditation feature, announced Thursday, was first tested earlier this year with a group of teen users and is now rolling out to everyone. Designed to improve sleep quality, the meditations activate during designated “sleep hours” and serve as a gentle nudge to put the phone down during a late-night scroll session.

For users younger than 18, the feature is enabled by default. If teens are still on the app after 10 p.m., their For You feed will be interrupted by calming music and breathing exercises. If ignored, the prompt returns to remind them it’s time for bed. Adults who want a similar reminder can set their own bedtime in TikTok’s Screen Time settings.

Although the meditation can be skipped, TikTok says 98% of teens who encountered it during testing chose to keep it on. Still, not everyone appreciated the intervention. “I disabled it, ima scroll how long I want on my phone,” one TikTok user commented. “Why do they care how late we are on TikTok?” another asked. “To Instagram I go,” added a third.