Childhood technology addiction drove him to a dangerous place. Now, he advocates for digital intentionalism.
Harrison Haynes said he was spending tens of thousands of hours watching videos and playing video games by the time he was 12. It was that time he said he befriended a 19-year-old who began grooming him and exposing him to pornography and self-harm.
By Cameron Thompson
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HENRICO COUNTY, Virginia (WTVR) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a new executive order aimed at addressing the dangers of social media and empowering parents to deal with them.
The order was released the same day Youngkin hosted a “Reclaiming Childhood” summit in Henrico focused on that issue.
“At the heart of the executive order is bringing together all of the various branches within state government … to collaborate with nonprofits, churches, public for-profit organizations, schools, parents, students,” Youngkin said. “And then on top of that, creating a tool kit that has all the information that we can put in one place for parents to find resources.”
The order also creates the “Reclaiming Childhood Task Force” to sustain the collaboration.
“Virginia and the nation’s children are facing a youth mental health crisis driven by the effects of unrestricted cell phone use and addictive social media platforms. The scope of this challenge is going to require all of us: private sector, non-profit organizations and government, can support parents as they work to improve their children’s mental health,” Youngkin added. “Executive Order 43 will empower parents with the tools they need to protect their children and sets the stage for a statewide response to reclaim childhood and ensure the next generation can thrive.”
Youngkin said this will build off his mental health initiative, “Right Help, Right Now” and his recent order creating cellphone-free schools.
Looking ahead to the next General Assembly session, he said wants to raise the age required to get parental consent to create a social media account from 13 to 18 — and establish better ways to verify a user’s age.
“I would love for us not to need legislation to do this, because this is common sense stuff,” he said.
After Youngkin made the announcement at the event, attendees heard from the keynote speaker who spoke firsthand about the dangers of spending too much time online.
Harrison Haynes said he was spending tens of thousands of hours watching videos and playing video games by the time he was 12. It was that time he said he befriended a 19-year-old who began grooming him and exposing him to pornography and self-harm.
Haynes said he fell into depression and contemplated suicide before turning a corner.
“I think that the biggest part of my story is realizing how I’m truly dissatisfied I was with my life,” Haynes said. “I realized that it was about time to wake up, to take a step out, to take a leap of faith and to be unapologetically human again.”
He said his parents handled the situation very well, but there were things he wished they all had done differently. He encouraged other parents to be vulnerable with their kids and have conversations about tough topics early.
“Approach youth as if they’re not trouble, because you want the best for them. You want to create safe spaces for them to fall when these things come about,” he said. “You have to create incredible relationships, amazing bonds with your kids so they don’t go out and create those bonds somewhere else.”
While for kids, he said to put down the phone and find an in-person community.
“I think creating spaces where people can be like, completely, completely authentic. Unapologetically, where they can take down their walls.”
Both Youngkin and Haynes said they are not completely against technology and know ditching it entirely is not realistic, but want to advocate safer use by young people.
Haynes said he follows what he calls his ‘nine digital boundaries’ — but people can start with just one.
“My favorite, my most grounding part of my day and my relationship with my phone is the 45 minutes to an hour in the morning where I don’t use it,” he said. “I honestly think it’s that simple.”
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