Nightclubs across the country are closing – with those working in England’s nightlife scene increasingly fearful that the industry may never recover.

Kick-started by the pandemic, which subsequently triggered a seismic shift in young people’s behaviour - now combined with the cost of living crisis – the local gym is likely to be busier on a Friday night with students than a nearby nightclub.

Meet Generation Hermit – where staying in is the new going out and young people are experiencing a seemingly quieter path to adulthood.

Because despite what social media – and the local Facebook gossip groups – might have you believe, most teenagers are not tearing-up their town centres causing trouble.

Increasing numbers are at home, tucked-up on the sofa or in their bedrooms with nothing but a screen and the internet for company.

And backed-up by the likes of Netflix, Deliveroo and Amazon, entertainment can be delivered at the push of a button and of course, for a much cheaper cost.

But at what cost to their burgeoning social skills?

Teenagers are retreating from the outside world at pace and going with them are many of the formative experiences that help to shape them as adults.

Driving lessons and licences are costly, employment rules for those still in school more stringent than ever.

We’ve all got great (and terrible!) memories of Saturday jobs - but I bet you your paltry teenage pay packet that the majority of those gigs aren’t available to children today.

And while that – quite rightly – protects them, it’s curtailing their chance to road-test the adult world and their financial freedom too.

Young people also aren’t pushing boundaries in the same ways as previous generations.

Teenage pregnancy rates have plummeted. As have the number of young drinkers falling into accident and emergency departments.

A generation on course to drink less alcohol than their parents – driven by everything from greater awareness of their health to cost pressures.

Instead, increasing numbers are staying in and staying safe – something their families may have once wished for.

And yet – somewhat ironically – parenting websites are increasingly full of anxious mums and dads worried that their teens don’t ever leave the house.

‘My son and his friends rarely meet up or do anything outside of school. Is this normal?’ asks one, while another pleads ‘What is going on with our kids?’

It’s a phenomenon seemingly not confined to the UK. In South Korea last year, the government began offering money to young social recluses to go out – so concerned was it about the numbers happily withdrawing from society.

Japan is said to experience similar problems where more than a million young people, known as hikikomori, seldom leave their house for anything but essential trips and never social activities.

Back in the UK some argue a growth in ‘helicopter parenting’ is to blame. Where too many years of organised play dates and structured clubs – instead of allowing children the basic freedom to play in the streets - has created a generation that don’t know how to make their own fun.

A small minority intent on causing anti-social behaviour have, perhaps, ruined things for the masses too.

Where crime prevention policies and dispersal orders now deter teens from gathering in places like shopping centres, fast food outlets or the local beach or park.

Those on the receiving end of that disruptive behaviour will have little sympathy, but it makes for fewer spaces where soon-to-be (well-behaved) young adults can taste life away from the watchful gaze of adults.

Throw in youth group and centre closures and you have to question whether we’ve created an environment where teenagers have got out of the habit of socialising face to face?

Last year research by youth group OnSide described today’s young people as ‘Generation Isolation’.

It’s report described lives dominated by online interactions – and vastly lacking in the experiences, opportunities and social connections required to develop the ‘vital’ confidence and skills needed for adulthood.

Where feelings of anxiety and worry are a common theme – far more prevalent than the free time they devote to hanging out on the streets.

Today’s teenagers may be physically safer but it appears society is holding its breath as to whether they’re emotionally more vulnerable as a result?