• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, April 5, 2019

So far, all the news about adolescents on screens has been bad -- or at least discussions in the press and on news programmes has generally suggested that screen time should be limited and parents should be concerned. I know that I fret about the kids spending too much time on smartphones and tablets -- as well as every other parent I can think of.

However, the Oxford Internet Institute has conducted a study of 17,000 adolescents in the UK, USA and Ireland and found that there is virtually no discernible connection between the amount of time teens are spending on their smart devices and their well being. They reckon that if anything, just under half a percent of an adolescents' feeling of wellbeing is attributable to the amount of time they spend on screens. 

To put that into perspective, the research points out that wearing glasses has more of an impact on a young person's feeling of well being than the amount of time they spend on a screen.

It's an interesting point, because recently the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) came to a similar finding and could only suggest that parents might want to limit screen time before teens go to bed. 

There are, of course, other studies that disagree. The BBC has a list, including research from Cambridge University that claimed to have found a link between time spent playing computer games onscreen and poor GCSE results. The University of Georgia has previously suggested too much screen time makes children less stable and lowers their levels of curiosity.

So regulators can take their choice. Screens either have an adverse effect, or they have virtually no effect. To be honest, it doesn't matter too much because Monday's announcement is all about the harm the content can do, not the device that content is delivered on.

Tech giants will be quick to point out that Oxford academics have given screen time a clean bill of health, but if they do, they would be missing the point. 

Next week's headlines will be filled with the government tackling harmful content.

It's a development that has been a long time coming. Once it has been aired with proposals for better regulation and fines for tech giants that fail in their responsibilities to protect users, there is no putting the genie back in the bottle.