PRINCE Harry has started swapping English words for American alternatives – only SEVEN months after moving to live in California.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex chatted with ‘digital’ experts about improving online communities during a Time100 Talks web chat.
Harry, 36, wearing a jacket and shirt without a tie, used the American phrase “pop the hood” instead of the traditional Queen’s English term ‘bonnet’.
Introducing the web chat Meghan, 39, said the couple have spent lockdown with son Archie.
“We are trying to embrace all quality time with our son and not miss a single moment of his growth and development, which has been special,” she said.
Speaking about media and social platforms, Harry said: “The media role is vital in everything going on.
“Always has been, always will be.
“There is a huge amount of trust we put into media.”
The duke delivered a metaphor about how they had rounded up social media experts, including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and Tristan Harris of Netflix hit Social Dilemma, to speak.
But he slipped into an ‘Americanism’ as he spoke during the online conference as he described getting experts together to speak about social media.
He said: “When driving a car and all the warning lights are going off, there is smoke pouring out of the hood.
“You are not going to keep on driving.
“You pull over.
“In the olden days, you’d probably pop the hood up, have a look under it and maybe fix it.
“But now, every single one of these new cars has a shield over top so you can’t fix it – you’ve got to call experts in.”
He added: “The online world is affecting the world.
“It is not restricted to certain platforms of social media groups. This is a global crisis.
“A global crisis of hate. A global crisis of disinformation and a global health crisis.
“These people we speak to there is no one else better to explain it.”
During the same webchat, Meghan revealed she no longer uses social media after the “bad voices” became “so loud and damaging”.
However, she failed to mention that up until this year, she and her husband ran the Sussex Royal Instagram account, abandoned when the couple stepped down as senior royals.
And she told the story of a YouTube employee who suffered with PTSD because of the stress of their role.
“Can you imagine carrying that every day – it’s everyone who ends up affected by it,” she said.
“The good outweighs the bad, but goodness [me] – the bad can be so loud – the damage that happens as a result of that.
“We haven’t begun to realise the legacy and effect of these platforms and the online space and what it is doing to us on a deeper level.
“We’re in it now but we have a chance to get ourselves out of it.”
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hellofaread.com/royal/disgraced-navy-officer-stripped-of-mbe-after-stealing-60k-of-his-stepsons-inheritance/
