Today’s teens and tweens have built up an impressive amount of daily screen time. Figures put it at between six to eight hours a day for 11-15 year-olds, and that’s not including time spent on a computer for homework. In fact, even the average UK adult spends more time looking at a screen than they do sleeping, according to one analysis.

It starts early. A third of UK children have access to a tablet before they are four.

It’s no surprise, then, that today’s youngest generations will be exposed to (and no-doubt join) the social networks their elders already use. Snapchat, for instance, is extremely popular among teens. One December 2017 survey found that 70% of US teens aged 13-18 use it. Most of those questioned also have an Instagram account. Figures are similar in the UK.

Over three billion of us are now registered on a social network, many of us on more than one. We spend a lot of time there - US adults spend an average of 2-3 hours a day.

This trend is now exposing some worrying results and, staying hot on the heels of social-media’s popularity, researchers are interested in the impact it is having on many aspects of our health, including sleep, the importance of which is currently gaining unprecedented attention.

So far it does not look good. We’re now coming to terms with the fact that social media has some clearly negative impacts on our sleep and with that, our mental health.