Prince Harry delivered a powerful speech in New York on World Mental Health Day, warning of social media’s impact on young people. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent two days in New York City on Thursday and Friday, receiving an award for their humanitarian work and attending Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Festival.
On Friday, Harry spoke at the Project Healthy Minds event and claimed that the digital world has “fundamentally changed how we experience reality”. During his speech, he reflected on the past five years since the pandemic began and spoke of the lessons learnt since then. Harry said: “The past five years have taught us painfully that crises rarely arrive in isolation.
“The global pandemic stripped away the ordinary scaffolding of life and brought a measurable surge in anxiety, depression and loss of connection war and displacement from Ukraine to Gaza, Sudan to the DRC and many places in between, have created waves of trauma for those defending their countries and their way of life, for civilians, for families forced to flee.”
Speaking about the widespread nature of mental health issues, he added: “These are not separate problems for separate people.
“They are interlocking injuries to our global community. Mental health is shaped by public health, foreign policy, climate policy, corporate design, and economic choices.
“Too often, decisions made by a few powerful actors ripple across the planet and into every aspect of our lives.”
He went on to say that the digital world has “fundamentally changed how we experience reality – young people exposed to relentless comparison, harassment, misinformation and an attention economy designed to keep us scrolling at the expense of sleep and real human contact.”
Meanwhile, Meghan spoke about the couple’s charity, the Archewell Foundation, and its work with families affected by social media harms, saying that healing depends on shared experience rather than isolation.
Meghan said the Archewell Foundation met families whose lives had been devastated by social media-driven suicide.
She emphasised that bereaved parents needed more than traditional therapy, saying: “The parents who lost children to social media didn’t just need therapy – they needed other parents who understood their specific grief.
“When these parents came together, they weren’t just sharing stories, they were creating a movement.”
She added: “While the research is sobering, the solutions are within reach – especially when parents, advocates and communities come together.”
Harry and Meghan’s comments come a day after the Princess of Wales warned about the “epidemic of disconnection” created by smartphones and other gadgets.
Kate aired her concerns about the problems posed by modern technology at the expense of family life in an essay written in collaboration with Professor Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.
The Samaritans can be reached round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If you need a response immediately, it’s best to call them on the phone. You can reach them by calling 116 123, by emailing jo@samaritans.org or by visiting www.samaritans.org.
