TikTok knows how addictive it can become for people, and so it’s been spending a lot of time trying to convince us that it wants to help mitigate that. The latest example of this in action is its announcement today of “Well-being Missions”, described as “a series of short, engaging missions designed to help people develop long-term balanced digital habits”.
And you learn about balanced digital habits by engaging in gamified missions, since the concept of irony is yet to be invented at TikTok HQ, apparently. So you’ll collect badges that “encourage and reinforce mindful behaviors” because that’s definitely the point of being mindful – having a badge that you can brag about.
The first set, TikTok says (of missions, we assume), focuses on awareness of its Digital Well-being tools, “but that’s only the start”. It threatens (sorry, promises) to build even more of these missions “in the coming months”.
TikTok says it’s seen “encouraging levels of interest” in this feature, as “nearly 40% of people who came across the entry point chose to explore Well-being Missions” even with no in-app promotion of it. TikTok clearly isn’t aware that well over 40% of people driving next to a car crash will slow down and look at it, which doesn’t actually mean car crashes are a well received feature of roads.
TikTok says it’s building “a new in-app experience focused on digital well-being”, because it knows that for the sake of its bottom line it can’t outright tell people to stop using it, so instead we get a bunch of features that only serve to keep you on the app more.
Coming soon: breathing exercises, calming audio tracks, and “screen time insights” to help people “pause, recharge, and use TikTok intentionally” (seriously). All of these will join the naturally already available meditation feature. In TikTok.