- Share of 15-year-olds spending no evenings out with friends up by almost 50 per cent since 2002
- Nearly 100,000 more completely inactive 11 to 16-year-olds than in 2018
- Children allowed out alone two years later than parents’ generation
- New plan to get teenagers “off screens and into sport” as Prime Minister signals PE overhaul
More than a quarter of a million 15-year-olds have become “teen hermits” who hardly ever leave their bedrooms except to attend school, alarming new research reveals.
Inactive Nation: Getting England’s teenagers moving, a new report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), warns that England is raising a “bedroom generation”.
It found that a rising number of teenagers are spending most of their free time alone, sedentary and absorbed by screens instead of building friendships, independence and active habits in the physical world.
New polling for the report reveals that almost two in five 15-year-olds in England say they hardly ever leave their bedroom except for school (37 per cent). This is equivalent to more than a quarter of a million.
Nearly one in four spends at least six waking hours in their bedroom on a normal weekend day, while the same proportion spends four hours or more there even on a school day.
Teenagers’ social lives have shrunk dramatically. Nearly one in five 15-year-olds now spends no evenings out with friends during a typical week, up from one in eight in 2002 – a rise of almost 50 per cent.
Meanwhile, the proportion spending most evenings with friends has more than halved over the same period, falling from 39 per cent to just 17 per cent. The share seeing friends every evening has collapsed by 86 per cent, from almost one in seven to just one in 50.
The report warns that sedentary time on screens has filled the space once occupied by outdoor hobbies and independent activity.
Three quarters of 15-year-olds say they often use their phone or screens because they have nothing else to do. One Year 8 girl told researchers:
“Since I got my new phone I don’t want to come out my bedroom, and I’ve been more short-tempered and not feeling as energetic and active as I used to be. I keep losing track of the time and getting distracted.”
The report says young people have retreated indoors as the freedoms and places that once drew them into the outside world have disappeared. More than 1,000 youth centres closed between 2010 and 2023, hundreds of playgrounds have been lost over the past decade.
Children are now allowed out alone at an average age of 10.8 – almost two years later than their parents’ generation, who were given the same freedoms at 8.9.
The retreat into bedrooms has coincided with a collapse in physical activity and an escalating crisis in adolescent health. There are now nearly 100,000 more completely inactive 11 to 16-year-olds than in 2018–19, while one estimate suggests that one in ten secondary-school girls does no physical activity whatsoever.
More than one in five children starts secondary school with obesity. At the same time, 15-year-olds in the UK report the lowest life satisfaction across 27 European countries and referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services have more than doubled in six years.
The CSJ warns that England cannot simply “refer its way out” of the crisis by sending ever-growing numbers of struggling teenagers towards an already overstretched mental-health system.
Tabby Fitzgerald, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice, said:
“We are raising a ‘bedroom generation’ of teenagers who leave school, shut the door and disappear to scroll.
“The consequences can be seen in deteriorating mental health, rising obesity and a generation missing the friendships, independence and resilience that previous generations enjoyed.
“Restricting harmful social media is part of the answer. But taking away the screen without offering anything in its place will not work.
“We cannot simply refer ever more unhappy and unhealthy children into an overstretched mental-health system. We must rebuild real-world alternatives to time spent online, and sport is among the most powerful weapons we have.”
The report identifies sport and physical activity as an underused answer to both excessive screen use and deteriorating mental health. The UK’s Chief Medical Officer has described physical activity as a “miracle cure”, giving teenagers regular exercise, coping strategies, role models and friends.
Replacing just 15 minutes of a 14-year-old’s sedentary time with physical activity is associated with better health and higher self-esteem, while nine in ten teachers believe activity improves pupils’ behaviour and schoolwork.
Yet only four in ten secondary pupils take part in sport or physical activity outside school. Curriculum time devoted to PE has declined, PE is the most frequently cancelled lesson and girls, disadvantaged children and older pupils are substantially less likely to participate in extracurricular sport.
Two thirds of the 15-year-olds polled by the CSJ said they would take part in more sport or physical activity if their school offered a wider choice.
Proposals in the report include:
- A new Right to Sport, ensuring every secondary school pupil receives two hours of PE plus two hours of extracurricular sport or accessible physical activities each week – levelling the playing field between state and independent sectors.
- A new Sport on Prescription approach, connecting struggling pupils with local sport and physical-activity clubs as part of stronger mental health support in schools.
- Protected break and lunchtimes, greater access to school sports facilities outside school hours and club vouchers for Year 9 pupils.
The report comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham declared himself “massive on school sport” and said expanding sport and the arts in schools would be “a feature of my time” in office.
Methodology
CSJ analysis of Sport England’s Active Lives Online: Children and Young People Survey finds that there are nearly 100,000 more completely inactive 11 to 16-year-olds than in 2018. The number of secondary school pupils active for 0 minutes a day is estimated to have increased by a number within the range of 95,240-97,117 between 2018/19 and 2024/25. The range shown reflects uncertainty from the reported percentages, calculated using the lower and upper bounds of the published proportions. Estimates were calculated by multiplying the total number of less active secondary-age pupils by the proportion within this group reporting zero minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity on an average day.
Polling conducted by Merlin Strategy between 8th–15th September 2026. An online poll surveyed n=1,554 fifteen-year-olds in England. The results were weighted by gender, region, density and ethnicity. Comparative 2002 figures are drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (2001/2).
Notes to editors
Media contact
Matthew Walsh
matthew@mippr.co.uk
07754 786 789
A CSJ spokesperson is available for interview.