Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appear at Oprah book launch event

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have made a surprise appearance at an Oprah book launch event where they spoke about the perils of smartphones and social media on young children. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dialled in remotely to speak with authors Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price, who have just released The Amazing Generation, a book designed to encourage children to play and have fun in the real world. Prince Harry spoke of their work on the impact of the digital world on children, and praised the pair for their research, which he said had been ‘incredibly valuable’.

The hour-long event on Wednesday saw American presenter Gayle King lead conversation with the two authors, before welcoming celebrity guest appearances including actress Amy Schumer and influencer Tinx. King gushed over the couple who she described twice as ‘my favourite Duke and Duchesses’. After being introduced, Prince Harry told Mr Haidt and Ms Price: ‘Over the years we’ve worked with how the digital spaces [are] deeply affecting our collective and mental, emotional and physical health. ‘And obviously a huge congratulations to you and the outcome of your research, which has created a parent-led movement, which is astonishing and much needed.’

At this point, Meghan jumped in and added: ‘And that we’re proud to be a part of.’ ‘Yeah, hugely,’ Prince Harry replied. He continued: ‘And the insights have been incredibly valuable over the years for our work with parents who have lost their children to online harms. ‘And working towards solutions to keep all children safe.’ The royal couple have spoken often about the negative impacts of social media and online spaces, and launched The Parents’ Network in 2024, bringing together families affected by social media-related [taking one’s own life] or online harm to their children.

The network was the result of a two-year pilot programme and gives support to parents in the UK, US and Canada. Later during the online event, Harry asked: ‘Can you speak to how the phone-based childhood, as you call it, affects kids’ emotional development and what families can do to support healthier patterns?’ Author of The Anxious Generation Mr Haidt (pictured) responded: ‘Kids need to play. All mammals play and once they get the device it’s going to push out everything else. They’re going to have less sleep, they’re going to stop reading books, they’re going to stop spending so much time with other kids, they’re not going to get as much sunshine, not as much exercise. So as they get more and more into a screen-based life, all the things that children need to do get pushed down and pushed out by these screen activities that are engineered for addiction.’

He added that play is vital for children to learn emotional skills and regulation, but added: ‘None of those things happen anymore. ‘Once they [children] get on, especially [to] short videos, that is so addictive it is going to push out everything else.’ Ms Price added: ‘We need to help our kids develop human skills and human relationships and both of us have done a lot of research on human flourishing, what it takes to have a meaningful and full life. And relationships, human relationships, are at the top of that.’