Aged ten, Chloe was sociable, bubbly, and popular.
asserted
Chloe → age → ?
But in the first couple of years at secondary school, all that changed.
asserted
that → change → school
For no reason – beyond the cliquey tendencies of adolescent girls – she was increasingly shunned by her so-called friendship group.
asserted
she → shun → group
Hurt, confused, and lonely, she became anxious and withdrawn.
asserted
she → become → ?
By the time she was 15, aside from reluctantly attending school, Chloe wouldn’t leave her room.
asserted
Chloe → attend → room
‘She stopped going out,’ recalls her mother Charlotte, the sadness in her voice still raw.
asserted
sadness → stop → voice
‘She wouldn’t come for a walk.
asserted
She → come → walk
She didn’t even want to come down to have meals with the family.
asserted
She → want → family
All her joy left her.
asserted
joy → leave → her
The agony of Chloe’s situation and her mother’s feelings of helplessness will resonate with far too many parents.
asserted
agony → resonate → parents
It’s estimated that there are now a quarter of a million ‘teen hermits’ in England.
asserted
It → estimate → England
Shocking research by the Centre for Social Justice reports that one third of 15-year-olds say they barely leave their bedroom except to attend school.
asserted
they → report → school
It warns of a ‘bedroom generation’ who spend their leisure time alone and on their phones or computers, instead of seeing friends and building independence in the outside world.
asserted
who → warn → world
This crisis has been driven by multiple factors, say experts – from harmful social media and too much time spent online to family life being lonely for teens as both parents work full-time.
asserted
parents → drive → teens
Covid, of course, did not help.
asserted
Covid → help → course
This is also a generation who spent formative years in long periods of lockdown, forced to stay in their bedrooms whether they wanted to or not.
asserted
they → spend → bedrooms
Shocking research by the Centre for Social Justice reports that one third of 15-year-olds say they barely leave their bedroom except to attend school (posed by model)
For Chloe, it was the bewildering pain of peer rejection and cruelty that led her to retreat.
asserted
that → report → her
Charlotte says: ‘She’d be excited, telling me that she and her friends were all meeting up, then an hour later I’d find her crying her eyes out because they’d gone out and not told her.
asserted
they → say → her
It all became too much and she took to her bedroom.
asserted
she → become → bedroom
She went from being a happy, sociable little bunny to someone who didn’t go out – at all.’
asserted
who → go → someone
Charlotte tried to help.
asserted
Charlotte → try → ?
She confesses to feeling – as any parent would – murderous towards the ‘spiteful’ girls in Chloe’s peer group.
asserted
parent → confess → group
‘I actually rang one of the mothers and said, “What’s going on?”
asserted
What → ring → mothers
The mothers claimed it wasn’t deliberate and that they all loved my daughter.
asserted
they → claim → daughter
It just got worse and worse until getting her to leave her bedroom even to go into school was tough.
asserted
her → get → school
‘I had to get up early and coax her, make her tea, snacks.
asserted
I → have → tea
The school bus would stop outside our house and her siblings would get on it, but she’d refuse and start dry-retching.
asserted
she → stop → it
I’d have to drive her in.’
asserted
I → have → her
After school, a pattern developed.
asserted
pattern → develop → school
‘Chloe would get herself some biscuits and tea, go upstairs to her room and put her pyjamas on.
asserted
Chloe → get → pyjamas
She’d spend a lot of time in bed on her phone.
asserted
She → spend → phone
She was scrolling, a lot.
asserted
She → scroll → ?
She also listened to podcasts.’
asserted
She → listen → podcasts
Charlotte considered switching off the internet.
asserted
Charlotte → consider → internet
‘But her siblings were studying.
asserted
siblings → study → ?
I couldn’t say, “From 10pm, there’s no wifi”.
asserted
I → say → pm
‘Sometimes she’d even take family meals upstairs to bed.’
asserted
she → take → bed
Charlotte protested and tried to stop it – ‘but what can you threaten?’ she asks.
asserted
she → protest → what
She adds: ‘If she did come down for dinner, she’d be disruptive – “I don’t like this, I’m not eating it” and storm off to her room again.
asserted
I → add → room
Charlotte would try to coax her out.
asserted
Charlotte → try → her
…and 116 more, not listed.
The Aporia
