In recent weeks, I have developed a bit of a screen time problem. It tends to be something that creeps up on me around this time of year, coinciding with the dwindling daylight hours.

As the nights draw in and it’s pitch black by 6.30pm, I feel oddly discombobulated. Summer is long gone in the rear-view mirror, yet I haven’t fully settled into the rhythm of autumn, nor for that matter, prepared myself to face the psychological grind of the looming winter months.

Usually by late October, after the clocks go back, I find my groove again. Right now, though, the gremlins of seasonal fug are wreaking havoc.

I’m not alone. Myriad studies have found that as we get less sunlight, it can lead to a drop in serotonin levels, impacting our moods, behaviour patterns and sense of wellbeing.

This typically coincides with the point in the calendar when I fall into my perennial bad habit of idle scrolling on my mobile phone, something I have come to realise is down to chasing dopamine which, like serotonin, is a feel-good hormone.

Except here’s........

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