Meghan Markle Speaks About Feeling "Frightened" About Social Media

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are back in NYC to spread awareness about the importance of mental health in honor of Mental Health World Day.

After visiting a school in Brooklyn this morning, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex hosted Archewell Foundation’s first-ever in-person summit, The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Summit: Mental Wellness in a Digital Age, as part of Project Healthy Minds' second annual World Mental Health Day Festival. The event, which was moderated by Carson Daly, was geared towards "families who are passionate about building a safer online world for children and teens" and featured remarks from parents who have experienced tragic loss connected to their child’s social media use.

James Holt and Shauna Nep, Co-Executive Directors of the Archewell Foundation, were on hand at the Tisch Skylight at The Shed in Hudson Yards to give opening remarks, before parents Toney and Brandy Roberts, and Dave and Jennie DeSerio opened up about the affect social media had on their respective children in the first panel. Fellow dads Ryan Gill, Taj Jensen, and Chris Dawley took part in the second panel, where they discussed their childrens' losses caused by social media.

In the third panel, Meghan and Harry were joined by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on stage and got frank about being parents in the social media world and the trepidation they are feeling when their children—Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2—begin using social media.

"Being a mom is the most important thing in my entire life—and of course, being a wife!—but I will say I feel fortunate that our children are at an age, again, quite young, so this isn't in our immediate future. But I also feel frightened how it's continuing to change and this will be in front of us," Meghan said. "As they say, being a parent, the days are long, but the years short. So it worries me, but I'm also given a lot of hope and a lot of energy by the progress we've made in the past year, being able to have these incredible parents and survivors of this experience to share those stories allows us to learn. The more information we have, the more information gathering we're able to do, the more we can have these high-level conversations and try to move the needle a little bit."

She continued, "I just think any anyone who's a parent, and by the way, even if you're not a parent, you see your friends affected, you see adults who are affected by this, everyone now is affected by the online world and social media, some more than others, we all just want to feel safe. You want to feel community, you wanna feel connected, especially post pandemic, but you want to feel safe."

Harry, for his part, said he was unsure what a healthy social media environment would look like to him in the future but was adamant that something needs to change. "For kids, we have to do more to protect them because they don't know any better, they don't know any different," he said. "And therefore, once you go down that rabbit hole, you get pulled in. So we have to do more at the entry point, whether there's an induction process or whether it's licensing."

He added, "I do think that we all need to be very, very aware of what it does to you when you're on social media for all this time... it [comes] down to awareness. Otherwise, before you know it, a very healthy, super happy, confident, successful child who has nothing wrong with them is taking their own life."

Meghan touched upon how social media algorithms are feeding children content they aren't searching, which is directly impacting their mental health. "If someone is looking for something, please don't feed them that thing that they're not looking for that's going to harm them," she said. "The algorithms are very powerful, but I'm confident that with more ears, and as my husband said, more awareness and visibility on what is really happening, we can make some significant change together."

Social media and mental health are subjects that hit close to home for Prince Harry and Meghan. In December 2022, Meghan spoke about her decision to share her suicidal ideation in her interview with Oprah. "Look, I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry especially, because I know how much loss he has suffered, but I knew that if I didn't say it, then I would do it. I just didn't want to be alive anymore," she said.

The Duchess continued, "But ultimately, if you feel like there's someone else that has a lived experience. they've gotten to the other side, and gave an example of resilience, an example of 'there is a happy ending', I think that's what most people are probably seeking out in those moments. That's why I made the decision to just say 'if my experience can help someone else not feel the same way or to know that there's hope then it's worth every second of whatever comes with it.'"

Prince Harry, for his part, previously said he makes it a point to limit his social media intake for his mental health. "For much of my life, I have been in the fortunate position of being able to help others," Harry told People in 2022. "As a veteran of conflict, but also simply as a human, I take care of what my mind ingests. Like a digital diet. Cutting out the toxic parts of the online world and the way stories are put in front of us, baiting us, is one way I prioritize my well-being."

Earlier this year, the Sussexes also visited AHA! Santa Barbara, a Santa Barbara youth group, to learn firsthand about this generation's relationship with social media and societal pressures, and how it impacts their mental well-being.

Since its inception, Archewell Foundation has focused on promoting mental awareness and making social media a safer place for minors. According to its mission statement, Archewell's "three main pillars of focus are to build a better world online, to restore trust in information, and above all, to uplift communities."

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