Meghan Markle On “Toxicity” Of Social Media: “We’ve Forgotten About Our Humanity” – SXSW

deadline.com:

In a last minute SXSW keynote panel added in time for International Women’s Day, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, spoke about how social media is having a negative impact on women. “Even if it’s making dollars, it doesn’t make sense,” said the former Suits star during the Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen panel.

Katie Couric, also on the panel, cited stats that social media’s impact on young women is on par with binge drinking in terms of spikes in suicide rates. “We have a real crisis on our hands here,” said the former Today Show and CBS Evening News anchor. “The toxicity that comes at you, yes, social media is an environment that has a lot of that,” said Markle.

The Duchess told the packed Austin Convention Center auditorium that she handles the negative social media that’s thrown at her by keeping her distance from it.

Markle said that she was bombarded the most “when I was pregnant with Archie, Lily and the new born.” It baffled Markle how “catty and cruel” people can be. “But we also created these habits — what I find to be the most distributing is how much of the hate are women spewing that to other women.