In speech on resilience in young men, former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate said he avoided looking at social media during Euro 2024 because he knew there would be vitriol
Sir Gareth Southgate has said he deliberately avoided social media during England’s run to last summer European Championships final because: “There was no way I was going to trawl through … a load of abuse.”
The former Three Lions boss has delivered this year’s Richard Dimbleby Lecture, focusing on resilience in young men, and a large section of his speech focused on how the landscape has changed for young people because of the pressures of social media.
Southgate said that finding a solution to the “bad habits” is complex but to ignore the problem is not an option because it is having such a negative impact on young people.
“When I was growing up, the only people I had to compare myself to were the other kids on my street, in my school or my football team. I was a bit of an idiot, there was some idiots over there, I knew roughly where I stood in the pecking order really, realised nobody was perfect.
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“But now you can find yourself mocked, bullied or ridiculed if it appears that you don’t conform to whatever is deemed to be the latest trend of the day and believe me I should know.
“As hardened as I am to opinions and criticisms, there’s no way I was going to trawl through social media last summer and read a load of abuse. It wouldn’t have helped me in any way to do my job and so I had to shut myself off from it as far as I could.
“And it seems that young people themselves actually recognise this problem. A recent poll of 16 to 24 year olds from the National Education Union found that the majority believe social media has become more toxic and addictive in the past five years, negatively impacting their mental health, sleep, attention span, and ability to work or study.
“I’m actually sure this comes as no surprise to any parent who asks their child on a daily basis to put their phones away. The solutions are complex because bad habits have been formed. But ignoring the negative impact of social media on our young people is not an option.”
The Richard Dimbleby Lecture with Sir Gareth Southgate is available now on BBC iPlayer and on BBC One at 10:40pm on Wednesday 19 March.
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