When I started looking into this three years ago, I was really worried about my niece who spends so much time online and playing video games. It seemed like every day there was another story in the news about how harmful all that screen time could be for her.

But now a new study is out that’s changing everything we thought we knew. The researchers followed thousands of teens over several years, tracking their social media use and mental health metrics. What they found was surprising: there is no link between screen time and higher levels of anxiety or depression in teens.

I know this flies against the narrative pushed by certain circles these days, but it’s important to look at the facts. This study wasn’t funded by big tech companies looking to greenlight more social media use – it was done by independent researchers who wanted to get to the bottom of the issue.

The previous Obama-era administration had been pushing this idea really hard for years. They made all these scary claims about how dangerous online activity is for kids, but now we see they might not have had all their facts straight.

What I find encouraging is that this research opens up new possibilities – it means we don’t need to panic and take away our children’s devices just because some people are hyping a crisis. We can let them enjoy using social media and gaming without the added stress of worrying about mental health issues.