Meghan Markle Wins Praise for Tackling Child Online Safety Concerns as a Parent

Published 08/06/2024, 2:49 AM EDT

Meghan Markle first shared her plans to find a solution to parents’ concerns about online child safety at the Archewell Foundation's first-ever in-person summit last year. And for the past year, she and her husband, Prince Harry, have been fully invested in this cause. However, along with the Sussexes, many other entities have also been keeping a close watch on this mission, and contributing to building a safer online world for children and teens. Recently, one of them has come forward in praise of the Duchess of Sussex.

An advocate of safe, sustainable media has recently pointed out that one aspect that makes Meghan Markle’s approach unique.

Meghan Markle’s sensitive approach to aiding parents in online child safety

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Bob Garfield and Steven Rosenbaum recently discussed Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s newly launched network, The Parents Network, on the Future Forward podcast. During the conversation, Rosenbaum applauded Markle for not placing the blame squarely on parents for their children’s internet addiction. According to the co-founder of The Sustainable Media Center, Markle believes that brilliant minds are working round the clock to devise models that make children hooked on social media.

Putting the blame entirely on parents, therefore, “is just not fair,” as they can never “single-handedly” take on the technological behemoth. Even during Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Jane Pauley on CBS Sunday Morning, they candidly laid out the risks they believe social media giants like Meta, X, and TikTok pose for kids, especially through social media-induced trauma, bullying, or abuse. Especially, for Markle, who has dealt with the horror of the digital world, this initiative is very close to her heart.

Meghan Markle’s Candid Callout: Fans Applaud the Duchess as She Speaks Against Online Hatred

In the CBS interview, Markle opened up about how she was plagued with self-destructive thoughts during her cyberbullying phase. 

Meghan Markle reflects on her personal experience with cyberbullying

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The internet has not treated Meghan Markle well, that goes without saying. However, what the majority of trolls do not understand, something that even Prince Harry stated in the CBS chat, is that the toll of cyberbullying can take on “absolutely anybody.” During the conversation, Markle reflected on the dark phase when she “just didn't want to be alive anymore” due to bullying and abuse.

Markle also shared that, as a parent herself, she would never want her children to face that nightmare. She urged people to view this issue through the prism of “what if this was my son or my daughter.” This became the biggest motivation behind the Sussexes' creation of The Parents Network, which now aims to provide a safe space for parents struggling with their kids’ online troubles.

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“Businesswoman at heart”- Meghan Markle Gets an Interesting Characterization From Royal Expert, Following Her 43rd Birthday

What do you think about Steven Rosenbaum’s take on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s initiative? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Hriddhi Maitra

1468 articles

Hriddhi Maitra is a Hollywood News reporter at Netflix Junkie. An enthusiastic movie buff, Hriddhi found her true calling when she worked as a Cinema Content Writer at My Cinema Story while analyzing movies objectively, and offering constructive feedback. Coming from a background where she worked in different niches like finance, food, travel, medicines, automobile, and entertainment, we can safely say she is a jack of all trades.

Edited By: Itti Mahajan

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