Prince Harry: ‘Life is better off of social media… enough is not being done’

Like many parents with young children, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex like to pack a lot into their schedules when they do have to travel for work. So it was this week, when Meghan was the headlining speaker at the Time100 Summit in New York. People were surprised to see Prince Harry come to New York with Meghan, and he basically acted as one of Meghan’s bodyguards as they entered and exited the venue. But many of us wondered if the Sussexes had other events scheduled in NYC. Turns out, the Archewell Foundation organized a 24-hour art installation, and on Wednesday evening, H&M attended the unveiling. The installation is part of the Parents’ Network, which was founded by Harry and Meghan, all to help parents and families navigate young people’s online media/social media habits.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry brought attention to a somber reality during their visit to New York City. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, together with the Archewell Foundation — the philanthropic organization they co-founded — unveiled a powerful installation honoring children who lost their lives due to the harms of social media.

The Lost Screen Memorial is comprised of 50 smartphones, each displaying the lock screen photo of a child whose life was cut short, stemming from the harmful effects of social media. The personal images were shared by parents, who are members of the Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network, to call attention to the need for safer online spaces.

“These are families that we have been working with for several years,” Meghan told reporters at the event at The Perch in midtown Manhattan, which PEOPLE attended. “No matter how polarized the world is, or what people may or may not agree on, one thing that we can all agree on is that our children should be safe. All of our children should be safe, and I think tonight, all of these stories solidify that.”

“These children were not sick. Their deaths were not inevitable—they were exposed to, and in many cases were pushed harmful content online, the kind any child could encounter,” the Duke of Sussex said. “No child should be exploited, groomed, or preyed upon in digital spaces. To the platforms, they may be seen as statistics. To their families, they were cherished and irreplaceable.”

A virtual version of the memorial will also include stories of each child, with some of the parents recording a personal voice message for people to listen to. The parents were invited to New York City to view the installation, which will remain open for 24 hours. The Duke and Duchess joined a convening of close to 50 affected families at the memorial for a private vigil and moment of remembrance. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were visibly in sync and deeply engaged throughout the event, taking their time with each parent, offering comfort and consoling those in tears.

[From People]

They started the Parents’ Network last year, and they gave an interview to CBS last year as well. Plus, Harry’s address at the Clinton Global Initiative last fall was about the Parents’ Network. On Wednesday night, both Harry and Meghan spoke to People Magazine and the BBC:

When reporters asked what advice they would give new parents about social media and their children, Harry responded: “The easiest thing to say is: Keep your kids away from social media. The sad reality is that the kids who aren’t on social media normally get bullied at school because they can’t be part of the same conversations as everybody else…. Life is better off of social media. I say that as a parent, and I say that as someone who’s spoken to many of the kids here tonight who lost a brother or a sister to social media. But clearly, enough is not enough. Enough is not being done.”

“Some of the stories here are truly harrowing,” Harry added. “You think you’ve heard the worst of it until nights like this, here in America. Some of these stories — they are crime scenes — and these companies are getting away with it by saying, ‘We don’t need to give you disclosure.’ For families, some of the arguments that are being made around privacy — you’re telling a parent, you’re telling a dad and a mum that they can’t have the details of what happened.”

When it comes to the changes they’d like to see, Meghan, who hopes to take the installation global, shared: “I think the work that we’ve been doing through the foundation — specifically the Parent Network in this program, creating this community for all of these parents, and the families, the friends of the friends of these children — to really be able to maximize the global messaging on it. Because it is a universal truth that our children are in harm’s way by what’s happening online. I think for those who do choose to be online and to be on social media — as adults as well — that we get to set the example and really put as much good and joy into the world as we can,” added Meghan, who recently returned to Instagram, but has kept her comments turned off.

“It’s like that old quote: ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.’ And I think in many ways, what we see through these parents is the hope and the promise of something better,” she said. “Because every single one of them and their resilience is an example…They just want to make sure this doesn’t happen. We are just here to support them in that in such a huge way. One of the fathers said, ‘All these photographs, as you can see, illustrate the children that are lost. But we don’t have photographs of all the children who will be saved.'”

Harry then said: “It is a community that should not need to exist.”

[From People]

You can also read the Sussex.com update on The Lost Screen Memorial here. This is very important work and I hope they continue to pressure social media companies (especially) to alter their policies and their community standards.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, Instagram.

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33 Responses to “Prince Harry: ‘Life is better off of social media… enough is not being done’”

  1. Cassie says:

    Another wonderful initiative that the British and Australian press will refuse to acknowledge .

    • Jan says:

      No biggie, the rest of the World Media will publish it.

      • tamsin says:

        I read that Australia is introducing legislation regarding safety for minors on social media. It sounded like something very difficult to enforce, though. I think there was an event in the UK on internet safety on Wednesday or Thursday?

    • Julia says:

      To be fair it was on the BBC news at 10 last night. I know BBC is not press but it is the biggest media outlet in the UK.

    • Blogger says:

      A pity because both countries have so many cases of suicides caused by online bullying on social media.

    • cazzie says:

      This was the MAIN item on the 6pm BBC news last night. The MAIN item. Before the war in Ukraine, the Pope, old orange-chops at Pensylvania Avenue etc. It is big news here in the UK at the moment, with Ofcom (the industry watchdog) setting new rules to SM providers and making it their responsibility to ensure safety for teens on their platforms. The left-behinds must have been incandescent …. shame!!

    • sunnyside up says:

      There was an article in the Indy yesterday, a newspaper supposedly aimed at intelligent people. People on the comments section were criticising Harry for having said anything about the issue.

      • kirk says:

        Sad that anybody is criticized for trying to make a positive difference in the world. I find it very encouraging that Harry and Meghan are both invested in young people to help find solutions – I saw Harry visited with Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund yesterday. My kids are both adults, so I don’t monitor their online activities anymore. However, the Parents Network (Archewell initiative) has some great resources about various social media platforms that will probably be helpful as a new grandmother – go to https://archewell.org/theparentsnetwork/ and scroll to the bottom for “Resources” and “Parent’s Guides.”

  2. Hypocrisy says:

    The memorial is beautiful and absolutely heartbreaking 💔.. life is better off social media besides my IG fan account for the Sussex’s I deleted it all.

  3. Maxine Branch says:

    Heartbreaking to see those kids and to know how they died. This can be so preventable with protocols in place to limit the type of content the young is exposed to. Applaud Archewell for their presistence in keeping this issue in the public sphere

  4. Lala11_7 says:

    Their initiative is one of the things that has made me truly change the way I interact on the internet…even on this site (and as an old-skool “Dlister” you can IMAGINE my online snark…😳) which is the ONLY gossip site I engage with daily…I read EVERY article…but I am VERY careful when I do comment…being intentional regarding how I engage online…not wanting to add to the infinite negativity😱…has TRULY helped me emotionally/psychologically/morally

    • Swaz says:

      This is the only place that I engage also, I’m extremely cautious with the amount of time I spend on the internet because a whole day of can be gone in a flash 😒

  5. FancyPants says:

    I was a late comer to MySpace/Facebook and then I was 37 when I deleted my social media accounts for good in 2018 and I still had to wean myself off like a crackhead to get there, so I can not imagine what is happening to these children’s brains. I can admit it makes a few things more difficult (the main example I can think of is when I’m trying to look up a smaller business but they use their Facebook page as their “website” and I can’t see it without a sign-in), but overall I do not miss it. Almost every day I find myself thinking “thank goodness I don’t have to see X or Y or Z’s comments on THAT.”

    • Blogger says:

      Yup, that’s the problem with FB because so many orgs and small biz go on it. I’ve had to pass so many times, I’m not on FB so give me your website.

  6. Connie says:

    This was so moving to me. I was bullied as a teen. You never forget how this person(s) made you feel like💩. I haven’t forgiven my abuser; he was my cousin. To this day we don’t speak. If he’s at a family event we avoid each other. Mind you this bullying was in 1975. I can’t stand that prick.

  7. It’s very sad that even on child died and it could have been prevented. Social media needs to have some safeguards for children. I think this is a great thing that Harry and Meg are apart of and bringing attention to the problem. Parents need to be involved and not just letting their children be let loose on social media. I do know some parents don’t allow their children access to social media by not letting them have cell phones and putting parental blocks on their children’s computers. Social media needs to do something too.

    • sunnyside up says:

      I wonder how many parents actually know how to block sites on their children’s phones. And how many children know how to unblock them. Thankfully my children were grown up before it became a problem.

      • HeatherC says:

        I used every parental control I could as my kiddo grew up. And he managed to bypass every single one. Luckily he wasn’t bullied or watched anything too inappropriate. Even better, he has a computer science with a strength in coding lol.

  8. Jais says:

    It’s hard to hear about these children and their families. Heartbreaking. It’s important to bring attention to this. And applying pressure to the companies. It’s so hard being a parent with all of this new SM.

  9. Amy Bee says:

    It is very heartbreaking to know that some children reach this level of despair.

  10. Brassy Rebel says:

    I applaud what H&M are doing here. Even for adults the Internet and SM can be a toxic waste dump. I do have to slightly disagree with something Meghan said. Unfortunately, we don’t all agree on wanting to keep kids safe. The Trump regime is very much about intentionally putting kids all over the world in danger. And the very fact that H&M have to highlight the harm done to kids and young people by social media is proof that there are people in this world who, at the very least, have no problem with harming, or even killing young people. I think in the last ten years of the 🍊💩 stain many have come to understand just how evil people can be.

    I commend their work and wish it wasn’t necessary.

  11. kete says:

    Everyone should get off Facebook and Twitter. It is a cesspool. And you don’t actually see anything from people you care about. I still use IG to post pictures and such but nothing else. I have a love hate relationship with TikTok but it is currently deleted. They are right, life is better without social media. But kids that do not use it are othered in school. It’s a lose lose.

  12. Aurora says:

    For people who are homebound due to physical or mental reasons social media is a godsend. It’s also a way for people who are socially isolated in hostile real world environments to connect with other sympathetic people.

    This initiative is well-meaning but people have to be careful about over-generalizing the evils of social media. I’m curious what specifically they are wanting to change? Making the internet safe for children can quickly devolve into outright censorship and complete elimination of spaces that aren’t intended for children.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Aurora, I remember reading that SM is being sued because of their algorithms. They have control of what is being seen by everyone which includes children. I hope whoever is suing wins the lawsuit because that means SM will HAVE to change their algorithms. I hope it costs them MILLIONS in liability.

    • kirk says:

      “I’m curious what specifically they are wanting to change?” — https://archewell.org/theparentsnetwork/ should give you an idea. This is also where you can go to see the online version of the physical 24-hour Lost Screen Memorial in NYC.

  13. Maja says:

    Many thanks ❣️🥹

  14. Calliop says:

    These poor kids. I’m impressed the parents are able to do anything, let alone be effective advocates. The online installation is impressive – and incredibly sad. I had no idea Snapchat allowed drug dealers.

  15. Lau says:

    I don’t have children but I genuinely think that social media shouldn’t be accessible before 18. As a millennial who grew up without social media I find it incredibly scary and it’s only getting worse.

  16. QuiteContrary says:

    Social media really does ruin lives, because there’s no escape from it — it follows kids home.

    I remember coming across my niece sitting in front of a computer with tears streaming down her face, because her “friends” were trashing her in a group chat in which she was included. I vowed on the spot not to let my kids have unfettered access to social media.

    They wanted to have access to social media when they were not even teenagers yet, and we said nope. All their friends did — but we still held firm. And it was hard.

  17. dawnchild says:

    this is such such an important cause…I’m so thankful they’re bringing attention to it. May it gather strength and save many lives!

  18. bisynaptic says:

    How about we start by at least insisting that our schools be no-bullying spaces?

    • bisynaptic says:

      We have little hope of persuading giant multinational corporations to change their profit-making policies, if we can’t get our local school administrators to make sure our kids are safe, at school.

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