Prince Harry and 'The Anxious Generation' author talk social media and mental health

Prince Harry said the smartphone "is stealing young people’s childhood" in a video exclusively shared with Fortune.

Transcript

00:00These apps have been specifically designed to hook and keep children online for as long as possible.

00:06That's right.

00:07Mindless scrolling.

00:08And during that scrolling, they have content that is pushed to them.

00:11Content that they wouldn't otherwise go looking for.

00:13You don't need an algorithm to feed you stuff.

00:15Well, now most of these kids are going to TikTok because they want to see someone of their own generation.

00:19It's really meta, TikTok and Snap are the three that own our children's childhood

00:24and that I think are behaving irresponsibly

00:27and that really aren't going to reform unless they're forced to by legislation or by massive parent outcry.

00:32We are creating the awareness for the families to go, you know what, it didn't feel right, it's not right.

00:37That's right.

00:37And we've now got the data, the research, the conversations and the proof points to prove to you that your gut instinct was right.

00:43This is not normal.

00:44That's right.

00:44That's what's happening all around the world.

00:46That's why this year, 2024, is the turning point.

00:50Terrible things have happened to our kids.

00:52We see that now.

00:53I don't want to blame any parents because we didn't know 10 years ago.

00:55We didn't know.

00:56We thought, oh, the internet was marvelous.

00:58Oh, computers, it's making our kids smarter.

01:00We all thought it was good.

01:01We were wrong, but we just didn't know.

01:02Well, now we know and we're rising up and we're putting a stop to it.