Prince Harry Says The Smartphone Is “Stealing Young People’s Childhood”

Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left their royal roles in 2020, they have added the effects of the digital world into their advocacy work around mental health, and for the last few weeks, they have been promoting one of their biggest initiatives to date, the Archewell Foundation Parents Network. To mark World Mental Health Day, Prince Harry interviewed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about his recent bestseller, The Anxious Generation, which examines the collection between mental health issues and social media use in children.

During the interview, Harry shared a few of his opinions about the effect that technology can have on children. “In many cases, the smartphone has and is stealing young people’s childhood,” the prince said. “This is one of the problems that I have. We’re both dads—these apps have been specifically designed to hook and keep children online for as long as possible, mindless scrolling.” Harry added that parents’ activism has made him feel like change is possible. “More and more people are standing up to these companies—parents included, parents mostly and saying, No, this needs to change, not with my child.”

The Archewell Parents Network, which Meghan and Harry announced in August, provides trauma-informed peer support to parents whose children have suffered from harms online. In founding the network, Archewell relied on research into the effects that social media has on children, including Haidt’s work in The Anxious Generation.

During the World Mental Health Day conversation with Haidt, Harry returned to some of the ideas that he mentioned when he and Meghan were interviewed by CBS about their inspiration for the program. “I’ve said in the past that at least to a certain extent, families and parents used to know that your kids were safe under your own roof,” Harry told Haidt. “We can’t say that anymore.”

The conversation coincided with the unveiling of a few different Archewell-funded projects related to social media and mental health. This week, Archewell released its annual Insight Report, which discusses the results of conversations that Harry, Meghan, and their staff have had with teens around the world. On Friday, nonprofit organizations Girls Inc. and #HalfTheStory announced that Archewell was helping to fund a digital wellness program called Social Media U that will reach middle-school girls nationwide. Meghan celebrated the project with a visit to the Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara, where she talked about her own experiences with bullying on social media.