I like that there are things we can count on every year. The seasons keep us grounded. The leaves change, football returns. The snow falls, Christmas time brings joy. The calendar turns to April, the leaves return, and LeBron James tells us that he's quitting social media for the playoffs. From the AP:
"I don't have no phones, no social media, I don't have anything," James said following Tuesday's morning shootaround as the Cavs prepared to host the Boston Celtics in Game 2. "I don't care about nonsense. There's too much nonsense out there. Not during this time, this is when I lock in right now and I don't need nothing creeping into my mind that don't need to be there."
James has 20.5 million followers on Twitter, but he doesn't plan to engage with them until the playoffs end. He said the only people he needs to communicate with are his family and teammates. And as for the rest of the Cavs and their communication habits, James said he doesn't mind if they continue to be socially interactive.
"Everybody does their own thing," he said. "I'm the leader of this team and I've got to be more in tuned than anybody, that's how I approach it. It was hard early on, but I've been doing it for a few years now. It is very tough to just be away from everything. It's just a challenge. I love challenges."
via LeBron James in social media shutdown mode during playoffs.
He said this in 2012. He said this in 2013. He said this last year. News!
Here's an interesting question, though. Do you believe him? With how up on pop culture and plugged in LeBron is, do you think he's really so isolated that he's not aware of anything? He's got two young boys who likely have their own phones. Are they really going to not let anything slip to their pops?
I do think it's cool that he does this, though. It's leadership. His life is so distracting, between his business pursuits, his constant need for input (he's the type of guy who has a TV on in the house showing games all the time, according to stories written about him), and his brand building, it takes a lot for him to disconnect. It's a sign of how seriously he's learned to take the game. We'll see if that leadership helps him keep the noise out for a team that's almost as scrutinized as his Miami days.
