I know what it's like to suffer cruel scrutiny and fear social media's impact on our children, writes Sarah Ferguson
4 May 2025, 14:55 | Updated: 4 May 2025, 15:04
When I took my first tentative steps onto the public stage in the 1980s, people in the spotlight faced intense and sometimes cruel scrutiny from the tabloid press.
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Some of those headlines affected me deeply at the time. Back then, I spent time and energy trying to please everybody but now I’ve learned that’s impossible. I accept that when you walk into a room 50 per cent of the people there may like you, 50 per cent may not, and that’s just fine.
However, I am increasingly concerned about what the next generation face in terms of commentary on social media. It’s not just people in the public eye, but anyone – including young children – who can become the brunt of cyberbullying and trolling.
Social media offers great platforms for communication but it can also be a nightmare. Let’s be honest, much of it is an absolute sewer. People say things to each other they wouldn’t dream of saying in the real world. I find it very sad that people spend so much time and energy being so cruel to others.
We need to teach our children that there’s a dark side to the internet and very often people aren’t kind to each other there. It’s too easy for people to post hatred and bile towards others with no consequences whatsoever. If you want to post that kind of thing, I think you should be required to put it in your own name. We’ve had enough of anonymous hate-posting.
This isn’t a trivial subject. Our teenagers have become more anxious and depressed. There was a notable rise in depression which started in 2012, around the time many secondary school children started to get smartphones. Excessive social media use has been linked to increased stress, sleep problems, and even self-harm. We’re only just starting to understand who is vulnerable and what we can do to protect them.
We do know that in the worst cases, children have taken their own lives after being pursued by cyberbullies. Others have died after dangerous prank and challenge videos have been circulated and apparently targeted at youngsters.
It’s clear to me that not enough is being done to protect children from these dangers of social media. Technology firms sometimes even refuse to offer access to information on the phones of children who have died to their parents, citing arguments about privacy. This is not right.
We won’t get anywhere unless we involve young people themselves in the conversation. The new Youth Impact Council, a nonprofit organisation I founded last year, aims to do just that - amplifying the voices of youth activists making an impact in their areas. We seek to bridge the intergenerational gap by connecting our young people with established leaders to cut through the tape and accelerate change.
Last week, the media regulator Ofcom published measures intended to improve protections for children online, including requiring tougher age checks and more robust action to prevent children accessing harmful content.
But I fear this won’t do enough to shield our teenagers from the tidal wave of filth and toxicity on social media sites. I believe it’s time that we treated the tech giants in the same way as any other publisher, and made them properly responsible for their content.
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Sarah Ferguson, known as the Duchess of York, is a bestselling author, philanthropist, and public speaker.
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