Prince Harry, Meghan Markle “recognizing” their children are not on social networks

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are already considering how social media could have an impact on their children.

On Wednesday, the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex and the network of parents of the Archewell Foundation revealed the Memorial Lost Screen in New York.

Part of the “No Child Lost to Social Media” campaign of the Foundation, the installation consisted of 50 works of art designed to resemble large mobile phones. Everyone presented a photo of a deceased child locking screen for social media damage.

As part of the unveiling, Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, attended a private vigil with the parents of the children represented in the demonstration.

During the event, which Business Insider attended, the Duke and the Duchess also shared their reflections on the dangers of social media – and how it could have an impact on their children.

Help parents feel less alone

The Archewell Foundation officially trained the parents’ network in August 2024 after having tested it for the first time in 2023. Today, the network supports parents who lost children due to social media damage, offering them resources and a place to connect with families with similar experiences.

The Lost Screen memorial is a culmination of this work, both in that it has created a physical representation of those who died and because it has brought together many members of the network in person for the first time. The installation will only be in place in New York for 24 hours, although it is also available to consult online.

Amy Neville, whose son Alexander Neville died in 2020 of a fentanyl overdose, described the network of parents as “an incredible house” for parents like her on the eve.

“When this type of thing happens in your life, you feel alone. You feel like you are an enigma,” said Neville at the event. “We can enter this space and be around these families and feel normal.”

“It’s a place for us to be able to recharge,” said Todd Minor about the role of the parents’ network in his life and his wife Mia after the death of their son Matthew.

“We have recommended and year after year, trying to adopt bills at state and federal government,” he said. “We are able to go to the parents’ network to recharge and share. It’s just an additional family for us.”

Harry and Meghan have been active in the parents’ network since its creation, and they welcomed many families from the day before Wednesday as old friends.

Several parents who participated told Bi that he was rewarding how well the couple is well informed of the dangers of social media.

“It is good to know that someone who may have a certain influence is careful and who goes there,” said Neville about the Duke and the Duchess.

Researchers always study how social media harm young people and how to remedy it. In June 2024, the general surgeon proposed to put government alert labels on platforms.

The Sussex fought with social media

Harry and Meghan saw the darkest sides of first -hand social media, becoming the targets of coordinated harassment during their stay as senior royals. Harry also said that online intimidation and the amplification of the harassment of British tabloids had contributed to his decision and to Meghan to withdraw from the monarchy in 2020.

They stopped using their joint Instagram account the same year and have been largely absent from social media since then.

“Life is better on social media,” said Harry on Wednesday. He added that he and Meghan are happy that their children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, do not age in social networks yet.

“We are simply grateful that our children are too young to be on social networks,” he said.

However, the prince also said that he realized that, given our digital world, this will probably not always be the case.

“The easiest thing to say is to keep your children away from social media,” he said. “The sad reality is that children who are not on social networks are normally intimidated in school because they cannot be one of the same conversations as everyone.”

Harry said he hoped that social-media companies will do more to make their platforms for children.

“While social media companies claim to take measures, most of them still retain critical data from mourning parents – data that could provide answers and responsibility,” said Harry. “This is an increasing crisis. Social media quietly take our children, and those who have the power to make changes fail to act.”

Meghan, who also spoke at the Time100 summit on Wednesday, returned to Instagram in January before launching his business, as always, and his Netflix program, “with Love, Meghan”. She did her first article on New Year’s Day, sharing a video of herself running on the beach.

The Duchess has mainly published on its commercial efforts on its new page and does not allow comments on its messages, limiting Trolls access to its content.

Meghan shares small extracts from his personal life, including photos with Harry and videos from his home kitchen with her children. However, she keeps the faces of Archie and Lilibet on her page, highlighting the concentration and Harry on the privacy of their children.

“I think that for those who choose to be online and be in social networks as adults as we can give an example and really put as much good and joy in the world as possible,” said Meghan on Wednesday.