As I was looking through the photos of Prince Harry speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative, it struck me that CopyEgg is probably screaming down the phone at Mike Bloomberg, demanding that Bloomberg arrange a meeting or a photo-op with Bill Clinton. You know it’s probably already happened. The call, I mean. Anyway, Harry was at CGI on Tuesday, speaking about Archewell’s newly formed Parents Network. The Parents Network’s aim is providing tools and resources for parents trying to navigate their kids’ online lives and the dangers of social media:
Prince Harry said today’s youth is in the midst of an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation due to negative experiences online, as he brought his campaign to help children and their parents navigate cyberspace to this week’s Clinton Global Initiative.
“These platforms are designed to create addiction,” Harry, 40, said in remarks Tuesday in New York City. “Young people are kept there by mindless, endless, numbing scrolling — being force-fed content that no child should ever be exposed to. This is not free will.”
Beyond supporting parents and youth throughout this advocacy, The Duke of Sussex stressed the need for corporate accountability. He asked why leaders of powerful social media companies are still held to the “lowest ethical standards” — and called on shareholders to demand tangible change.
“Parenting doesn’t end with the birth of a child. Neither does founding a company,” said Harry, who revealed that his smartphone lock screen is a photo of his children, five-year-old Prince Archie and three-year-old Princess Lilibet. “We have a duty and a responsibility to see our creations through.”
I’m including one of the videos of his speech below – nearly every British outlet ran a live stream of CGI so that their viewers and readers could watch Harry. The Daily Beast’s coverage focused on Harry saying that his lockscreen is of his two children, and then they suggested that Harry “publicly reinforced his status as a family man and his commitment to his children… pushing back against narratives by some critics hinting that he was happy to be spending a week away from his family.” As in, the British media is trying to make “Harry’s business trip to New York” into yet another hyped-up narrative that there are problems in the Sussex marriage. Please. Unless those same people are prepared to do a similar dive on the Wales marriage, they need to zip it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.