No Child Lost to Social Media
Summary
In order to overcome the rapidly escalating problems in adolescent mental health and online harm, The Archewell Foundation, co-founded by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, is working to systematically change the technology, design and policies around social media that create an environment for dangerous internet use by children, by supporting and mobilizing the people most concerned – parents and caregivers.
The Archewell Foundation is launching and growing the first-ever global support program for families affected by online harm: The Parents’ Network. The Network is designed to create bonds and use trauma-informed practices to help affected families heal, and in turn use their experience to help others. It will be a convening hub to support parents and caregivers, and a mobilization platform for those affected – and for everyone concerned about the issue – to campaign and advocate for change.
Approach
The Parents’ Network program is a private, free-to-access peer-support network with wrap-around support and services, including parent-led affinity groups and regular programing such as learning sessions, and peer-share groups for the whole community.
The Network also provides members with the platform and support systems to find purpose, speak out, tell their story, and mobilize others. Working with advocacy partners, it provides support and training to take their experiences to legislators and their communities, as well as join in large-scale storytelling campaigns that have been co-designed and co-led by affected families.
On top of the community provision for affected families, the Network offers a series of online resources and community-based workshops to help more parents and caregivers understand the risks, issues and best practices around social media use for teenagers and young people.
The Archewell Foundation will build this program based on the current and lived experiences of young people. Every element begins with the research The Archewell Foundation conducts, and the insights gathered from young adults and teenagers globally. The Archewell Foundation also recognizes that young people are often the source of the solutions, so in tandem with its work with parents and caregivers, The Archewell Foundation commits to uplifting the youth leaders who inspire us.
Action Plan
The Archewell Foundation will roll out its Parents’ Network in North America and the UK, with road maps established for expanding into new nations. A research series that has been conducted in Colombia serves as the first step in expanding Spanish language resources.
The work will continue to focus on introducing parents with lived experience to the world stage, including the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence to Children, which will take place in Colombia in November.
Resources for mainstream audiences will be provided for engagement online in the UK and US, mainly focused on advice guides. Together with partners and experts in the field, The Archewell Foundation will year-by-year expand workshop capability to provide community-based learning support to families and schools.
Concurrently, and working with country-specific partners, The Archewell Foundation will commence exploratory research for new target nations. We will follow our process of identifying local partners, commencing focus group research with young people and parents, and adapting our resource materials for language and local identity.
The Archewell Foundation will continue to lead research sessions to expand all elements of their work into new territories, as well as committing the developed program to as many people as possible.
Background
Today, 95% of young people in the US and 97% of British children as young as 12 are now on social media (HHS 2023) . Children are using social media platforms earlier and earlier, and despite platforms saying they have an age restriction of 13-years-old, nearly 40% of children aged 8–12 use social media (US Surgeon General 2023) . Furthermore, in The Archewell Foundation’s own research, almost every young person surveyed said they joined social media platforms before they turned 13 (The Archewell Foundation Insight Report, 2023) .
More research is needed into the impact of digital technology on young people in the Global South. The Archewell Foundation has recently begun research in Colombia. We found young people there quick to identify the risk of becoming too dependent on technology, one student asked: “A life controlled by technology or one guided by soul and heart and our actual brains ”
Online spaces are connecting young people more quickly and readily to threats to their safety and general wellbeing. One UK study found that 1 in 10 teenage boys were fed harmful content within 60-seconds of being online (Smart Living 2024) , and American researchers discovered 6 in 10 of the 13-15 year olds surveyed had experienced dangerous content online – including violence, sexual content, harassment, and strangers trying to connect with them (Savoia et al. 2021) .
Furthermore, the increasing digitization of childhoods is directly correlated with a significant risk in mental health problems among young people. Mental health is one of the leading causes of illness and disability among young people today, and suicide is among the most common causes of death in people ages 15–19 years (WHO 2024) . Social media and online habits have played a fundamental role in these outcomes. According to a research study, American teens who used social media over three hours each day faced twice the risk of having negative mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms (Yale Medicine 2024) .
These online spaces and platforms are designed to keep our kids scrolling, even if it means exposing them to dangerous ideas, cyber-bullying, and illegal and harmful content. It has to change.