Prince Harry just made a rare comment about wanting to “protect” Archie and Lilibet
Parenting isn't always easy, especially with the challenges that raising a family in the modern world has brought along – we're looking at you, social media! Perhaps it comes as a consolation then, that even the likes of Prince Harry has similar concerns for his own children, three-year-old Archie Harrison and 11-month-old Lilibet Diana.
Speaking at the 5Rights Foundation’s Global Child Online Safety Toolkit this week, the royal opened up about the difficulties parents face these days as they raise their children in an increasingly online world. At the event, which the Duke of Sussex appeared at virtually from his home in California, he called for creating a safer space online for the youth of today and praised the "ground-breaking" work that the foundation has already achieved.
"My kids are too young to have experienced the online world yet and I hope that they never have to experience it as it exists now. No kid should have to," the 37-year-old said, referencing how social media has changed the landscape of what it means to be a child. Criticising social media platforms for making "unimaginable money" by grabbing the time and attention of young people across the globe, he went on: "The internet business model is doing exactly what it's meant to do – let us in and keep us scrolling, get us angry, anxious or make us numb to the world around us."
It's something which he's keen to protect his children from, and hopes to enable other parents to do the same through his support of the foundation. "My two little ones are still of the age of innocence," he said. "Sometimes I feel I can keep them away from the online harms that they could face in the future forever but I am learning to know better. As parents, my wife and I are concerned about the next generation growing up in a world where they are treated as digital experiments."
Looking to the future, the royal – who, along with his wife Meghan Markle, is known for keeping his children out of the public eye – remained hopeful that positive change can still be achieved. "The online world is changing and it's on every single one of us to make sure that the change ahead prioritises our children's right to a safe and happy future," he concluded.
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