Of The Parents’ Network, Pauley said: “The central topic is the loss that these families have suffered, stories that need to be shared because the parents who are listening who have not suffered a loss think that they couldn’t. But they could.”
Prince Harry replied: “They certainly could. And that’s, I think, one of the scariest things that we’ve learnt over the course of the last 16, 17 years that social media’s been around, and more so recently, is the fact that it could happen to absolutely anybody.
“We always talk about in the olden days if your kids were under your roof, you knew what they were up to; at least they were safe, right?
“And now, they could be in the next-door room on a tablet or on a phone and can be going down these rabbit holes. And before you know it, within 24 hours, they could be taking their life.”
The Duchess added: “I think you have to start somewhere.
“I think the simplest thing that anyone watching this or anyone who’s able to make change to look at it through the lens of, ‘What if it was my daughter? What if it was my son? My son, or my daughter who comes home, who are joyful, who I love, and one day, right under my roof, our entire lives change because of something that was completely out of our control?’
“And if you look at it through the lens as a parent, there is no way to see that any other way than to try to find a solution.”
Launching The Parents’ Network, which will gather mothers and fathers whose children have suffered harm arising from social media or the internet for help, support and campaigning, executive director of The Archewell Foundation James Holt said: “Over the past two years, alongside our co-founders Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, our team has engaged deeply with parents and young people about the repercussions of social media on their mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
“It became strikingly clear that there is a critical need for connection and community among those who understand the pain, fear, and isolation caused by social media’s impact on children. We believe in the transformative power of community, and that is why we have created this network – to connect those who face these challenges and offer mutual support.”
Archewell and parents from the pilot programme are also launching a campaign entitled “No Child Lost to Social Media” campaign to help tell their stories in the hopes of convincing social media platforms to ‘prioritise safety in their design’.
In the UK, 62 per cent of UK children aged 13-17 have reported encountering harmful content online over four weeks, according to Ofcom.