Map reveals least happy areas in the UK – is your home on the list?

BRITS’ mental health is at rock bottom thanks to spending 28 hours a week on screens, a survey shows.

We spend up to four hours a day staring at phones or computer screens outside of work or school on average, the Health, Wealth and Happiness Index revealed.

It resulted in the lowest levels of happiness since the record lows of the Covid pandemic’s early days in 2020.

I Am Ruth star Kate Winslet used a Baftas speech on Sunday night to highlight the dangers of screen use in teenagers, adding “we want our children back”.

Emma Walker, of insurer LifeSearch which commissions the index, said: “It’s time to cut down the screen time and invest time in tangible connections with friends and family.

“It’s worrying to see the number of hours that Brits on average spend on a screen for leisure, on top of the time required for work or school in any given week.

“We are seeing a correlation between high screen time usage and poor mental health along with general levels of unhappiness.”

Concerns around the amount of time people spend on screens has been increasing, with research suggesting more time glued to devices is devastating mental health.

The Health, Wealth and Happiness Index showed just 4 per cent of adults spend less than an hour on a screen per week when not working.

Two fifths of those that spend six hours or more per day said their mental health has worsened over the last year.

The index also found overall happiness levels are at their second lowest since records began in 2011.

Nationally, a quarter of Brits said their happiness declined over the last year, thanks in large part to the cost-of-living crisis.

The biggest drop-off was seen in London, where more than a third said they felt less cheerful.

It was followed by the South West (27 per cent), South East and Yorkshire and Humberside (both 26 per cent).

For comparison just 17 per cent said they felt less happy in the West Midlands.

Nina Skero, of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which produced the research, said low happiness levels could continue for some time.

She said: “We expect pressures to persist in the coming year, especially in terms of inflation and spending power.

“Nevertheless, the outlook is somewhat rosier than was the case at the turn of the year, with consumers showing considerable resilience in the face of troublesome economic conditions. 

“This provides some hope that the depths of 2022/23 will not be repeated and that the Index’s components can return to improvement.”