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you're commenting on a study with what sounds like an opinion that feels right to you. maybe it's not just about social media vs "positive" activities. some of it may be related to screen addiction and inability to focus due to externals stimuli. any unhealthy habit could have a configuration where its not as unhealthy to some people, but it doesn't mean the study is "confusing people"

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The study considered "screen time" as an unvariegated whole[1]. That is confusing. Screen time is not a singular activity - there's an infinite diversity of things that you can do on a screen - some great for your health, other very poor.

It'd be like a study came out saying "food proven to make Americans overweight" because, on average, people eat junk food. Strictly speaking that is true, but it's not useful information.

[1]: Alright, it considered "non-work screen time" as an unvariegated whole - but my point still stands here.

This will remain opinion until we can get longitudinal studies that account for this. Current pediatric recommendations are basically no screen time for small children even though there are apps specifically for educational enrichment. It may be that all screen time is bad. Until the educational and informational parts are accounted for, all we can do is speculate.

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