Princess Kate makes major announcement in new personal essay

The Princess of Wales has warned that excessive screen time is creating an "epidemic of disconnection" that disrupts family life. In an essay co-authored with Professor Robert Waldinger from Harvard Medical School, Kate says that "we're physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully engage with the people right in front of us."

She says that smartphones and computer screens have become a "constant distraction" in our lives, and are fuelling the epidemic of loneliness. "While digital devices promise to keep us connected, they frequently do the opposite," she writes.

Instead of being glued to our screens, she urges people to "look people in the eye and be fully there", explaining that spending quality time together without distractions "is our children's greatest inheritance".

The essay, titled 'The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World', sets out why meaningful relationships are the single greatest investment we can make for health, happiness and longevity.

Kate, who has long championed the importance of social and emotional development in early childhood, outlines the science that shows how developing healthy and meaningful relationships in the earliest years has lifelong benefits for physical and mental health.

However, she warns that social trends are shifting in the opposite direction, with people becoming lonelier and isolated, and families not giving their children enough attention due to online distractions.

"While new technology has many benefits, we must also acknowledge that it plays a complex and often troubling role in this epidemic of disconnection," she writes. "While digital devices promise to keep us connected, they frequently do the opposite.

"Our smartphones, tablets, and computers have become sources of constant distraction, fragmenting our focus and preventing us from giving others the undivided attention that relationships require.

"We sit together in the same room while our minds are scattered across dozens of apps, notifications, and feeds. We're physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully engage with the people right in front of us."

By being distracted, whether it's scrolling on our phones or responding to emails during family dinners, Kate warns "we are withdrawing the basic form of love that human connection requires."

It comes after her husband, the Prince of Wales, revealed in a recent episode of The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy, that their three children are not allowed phones. "[It's something] we are really strict about," he says.

Kate's essay continues to reinforce the message she has long championed: that a child's first five years are the most crucial for developing social and emotional skills that will be used in adulthood.

This helps people form healthy relationships, resolve conflict and grow into adults capable of building loving partnerships, families and communities themselves, she explains.

But, the princess warns that a child's social and emotional skills can be impeded by "technological distractions", which could result in young people being less equipped to form warm, meaningful relationships in the future.

Reiterating the importance of human connection and breaking away from a life dominated by screens, Kate says: "The evidence is clear: if you could invest in just one thing to help you and your family thrive, invest in the relationships you have with each other.

"This is not just about creating a more loving environment for our children. It's about creating a more loving world. And that begins with a simple, deliberate act.

"Look the people you care about in the eye and be fully there - because that is where love begins. For babies and children who are raised in attentive and loving environments are better able to develop the social and emotional skills that will allow them to grow into adults capable of building loving partnerships, families, communities. This is our children's greatest inheritance."

Kate's essay was published on the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood on Thursday morning, ahead of her visit to an early years centre in Oxford. The Centre was launched in 2021, with the aim of raising awareness and gathering evidence about the importance of a child's formative years.