Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Say They Fear For Their Children’s Mental Health in the Future

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are speaking candidly about their fears as parents of two young children.

On Tuesday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the Archewell Parents Summit during the Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Festival in New York City, where they discussed the impact social media has on kids.

Harry and Meghan — who are parents of 4-year-old Prince Archie, 2-year-old Princess Lilibet — joined Today‘s Carson Daly and Dr. Vivek H. Murthy to discuss ways various social media platforms are impacting children’s mental health.

“I think we need to get out of this idea that young kids, there’s something wrong with them. No, it’s the world that we’re allowing to be created around them,” Harry said. 

Meghan expressed the importance of her role as a mother, and spoke about the fears she shares with other parents about the subject matter children consume online. 

“Being a mom is the most important thing in my entire life, outside of course being a wife to this one,” she said. “I will say that I feel fortunate that our children are at an age that they are quite young, so this isn’t in our immediate future. But I also feel frightened by how it’s continuing to change and this will be in front of us.”

The Suits star, who has been candid about her mental health, shared that changes need to be made with algorithms, so kids aren’t consuming things they do not want to see. However, she is hopeful. 

“I’m confident that with more ears and as my husband said, more awareness and visibility on what is really happening, that we can make some significant changes,” she shared during the conversation.

Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, were inspired to speak on the panel after attending various events where they listened to parents who lost their children after they were impacted negatively by social media.

“For us, the priority here is to turn pain into purpose,” Harry said via the Associated Press. He added that he and Meghan wanted to, “provide as much support, spotlight and platform for these parents to come together, to heal together, to grieve together and collectively focus on solutions so that no other family anywhere has to go through what they’ve been through.”

Meghan shared that she has had conversations with tech executives who shared they were placing safeguards on social media platforms. According to the AP, the duchess reiterated this, stating, “People are getting hurt — and people, specifically children, are dying.”

Harry and Meghan’s return to NYC comes five months after they claimed they were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” after Meghan was honored during the  the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards. 

The pair’s trip also comes on the heels of their time spent in Düsseldorf, Germany, for the 2023 Invictus Games. 

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