So between 2005 and 2014, 14-15-year-olds were spending less time hanging out with friends outside or in each other's homes (a 15% dip), and more time on their own within their own four walls (a 13% increase). It's highly likely that the rise of smartphones in the late 2000s drove this shift, making it possible for teenagers to connect with their mates online, so that they opt for virtual chats over in-person meet-ups.

And if we look at the ONS Time Use Survey in 2014/15 we see 18-year-olds were spending a whopping 30.7 extra minutes each day on gaming compared to 2000/1, and 16.8 more minutes glued to their computers.¹ At the same time, they were dedicating 26.7 fewer minutes to traditional ‘socialising’ and 25.8 fewer minutes on general media consumption.

Of course today those categories have become completely blurred. Socialising, gaming, computing, and media all overlap as activities that young people engage in through their trusty smartphones.