The social lives of many young people are dominated by long periods in front of screens playing games or watching television (Picture: Getty)

A stark warning has been issued that young people are becoming ‘generation isolation’ as they retreat to their bedrooms with few opportunities to join youth clubs.

A major new study into the social lives of 11 to 18 year olds shows that their time outside school is increasingly home-based with limited access to centres where they can meet peers.

One in five (19%) said they spend most of their free time alone, amounting to almost a million young people, according to youth charity OnSide. 

Only 13% indicated that they spent most of it in person with their friends. 

OnSide wants every young person to have access to a high quality youth club, which would mean a drastic improvement on the 8% who said they do attend centres.

Benjy Cunliffe told Metro.co.uk that he logged up to 10,000 hours playing on dozens of games for up to 10 hours a day before joining a Youth Zone run by the charity.

Children are spending increasing amounts of time in front of screens and less in the real world (Picture: Getty/File image)

Benjy, 16, has replaced screens with sport at the centre in Wigan, Greater Manchester. Volleyball and football are among his favourite activities at the purpose-built space, part of a network of Youth Zones being developed by the charity in some of the country’s most disadvantaged areas.

‘I’d spend five to 10 hours a day on console games like Thief and Rocket League,’ Benjy said. ‘Since I started playing seven years ago I’d say I’ve logged between 5,000 and 10,000 hours on dozens of games. 

‘Through Covid I was spending more and more time in my room on video games and less time out with my mates. I’d say I was addicted.

‘You don’t realise how much just staying in your room is setting you back when you could be out experiencing stuff and meeting people. Teenagers just do it because it’s easy, there’s nothing stopping you and it’s just one of things that’s naturalised. Then they end up getting isolated and lonely.’

Benjy, who has two brothers and two sisters, is studying mechanical engineering at college with the aim of becoming a Formula 1 engineer

‘I didn’t have any energy for socialising,’ he said.

‘I couldn’t be bothered going out and found I felt angry and frustrated.

‘So I started attending more sessions at Wigan Youth Zone, mostly playing sports with my friends. Volleyball, football and rock climbing are my favourites.

Benjy Cunliffe has replaced long sessions on the console with the social and sporting life at a Youth Zone in Wigan (Picture: Benjy Cunliffe)

‘I felt happier and more optimistic after being there, and gaming was beginning to feel boring in comparison. I’m only gaming a couple of times a month now and I’m at the Youth Zone most days.

‘My mental health is much better; I’m not focused on the bad things anymore, I think much more positively and I feel just naturally happy.’

The picture of isolation would mean 988,000 young people living lonely existences if the sample was scaled to the wider population.

Findings also include 77% of the respondents spending most of their free time at home, where 51% mainly stayed in the bedroom. 

Just 1% said they spend most of their time hanging out on the street.  

The Princess of Wales spoke of the vital need for young people to have face-to-face interactions (Picture: Chris Jackson – WPA Pool/Getty)

OnSide chief executive Kathryn Morley said: ‘Too many young people are living isolated lives, increasingly withdrawing into their bedrooms without support from trusted adults. 

‘While online communication is important and has some benefits, its dominance means young people are missing out on the face-to-face interactions that build social skills, confidence, self-esteem, resilience and empathy.

‘We cannot watch an entire generation of young people sleepwalking into social isolation and not developing the qualities that are necessary for mental wellbeing, and that lay the foundations for them to thrive into adulthood.

‘With pupils spending 85% of their lives outside of school, the real world must be as enticing as the virtual one. Youth centres are key to that, helping young people to develop and build rich social lives in safe spaces designed to support them.’  

Benjy with a certificate he was awarded for the positive contribution he has made at Wigan Youth Zone (Picture: OnSide)

The study follows the Princess of Wales highlighting the ‘vital’ need for community spaces to allow for real world interactions.

Speaking to young people in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, last week, she said how ‘with social media everyone is at home online now’. 

Visiting the north of England with the Prince of Wales to launch their first ‘Community Impact Day’, she emphasised: ‘Finding community spaces where people can come and meet up together — in a really informal way so it isn’t structured — is vital.’ 

Screentime dominated the social lives of 73% of the 5,078 young people in England surveyed by OnSide and YouGov for the ‘Generation Isolation’ study released today.

Streamed content such as Netflix, YouTube, gaming and general phone use and TV viewing were the main activities.

Overall, levels of gaming and viewing were found to have increased since the Covid pandemic. 

Young people climb a wall at a Youth Zone where state-of-the-art facilities provide real world pursuits (Picture: Greg Farrimond/OnSide)

The charity views youth clubs as vital in helping young people to build confidence, make friends and gain social skills, with 81% of those currently attending a centre saying it had made a positive difference to their lives.

At present, just 8% of young people go to a club, according to the report, which found a ‘lack of widespread opportunity’ to use such facilities.

Gershom Clarke, head of youth work at the OnSide Youth Zone in Barking and Dagenham, said: ‘The young people walking into our youth centre today are less confident to make their own decisions or try new activities, and there is clearly a correlation between this and the amount of time they are spending at home alone. Real life interaction is vital so young people gain the confidence to try new things.  

‘I have seen a young person go in just five weeks from being unable to speak in front of others, to performing at a talent show to an audience of 60 parents, carers and friends. 

‘That’s the power of youth centres and support from trusted youth workers, and we need many more young people to have these opportunities.’  

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Almost a million young people are living in relative isolation as screens replace real-world interaction.