The former Meghan Markle has expressed her anxieties about the day her children will be old enough to start using social media.
The Duchess of Sussex opened up about her fears when she and Prince Harry participated in a discussion about mental wellness in the digital age as part of Project Healthy Minds’ World Mental Health Day Festival, this past Tuesday. During the panel hosted by the Sussexes’ foundation, Archewell, the royal parents spoke out about the dangers of social media and its effect on young people.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex share two children: Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2.
”…Our kids are really young … but social media is not going away,” Meghan told the audience, according to videos posted online by various fans and news outlets.
“I think by design, there is an entry point that’s supposed to be positive and creating community. And something has devolved, and there’s no way to hear that and not try to help these families have their stories be heard.”
The former “Suits” actor added that she “worries” about her children using social media in the future, while Harry emphasized the importance of protecting the youth on the internet “because they don’t know any better.”
“I feel fortunate that our children are … quite young, so this isn’t in our immediate future,” Meghan said.
“But I also feel frightened by how it’s continuing to change. And this will be in front of us. They say, being a parent, the days are long but the years are short.”
The Sussexes’ World Mental Health Day appearance comes several weeks after Spotify Chief Executive Daniel Ek broke his silence on the platform’s split with the duke and duchess. The streaming exec explained to the BBC that the couple’s multi-year production deal with Spotify — which included Meghan’s short-lived “Archetypes” podcast — didn’t yield its desired results.
“We thought new innovation was needed to happen here. We thought, ‘We can come in and offer a great experience that both makes consumers very happy and allows new creators new avenues,’” Ek said, according to multiple reports.
“The truth of the matter is some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t. We’re learning from those and we are moving on, and we wish all of the ones we didn’t renew with the best of success they can have going forward.”
Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Audio said it “mutually agreed” to part ways with Spotify in June.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
