David Beckham ‘glad’ to avoid social media during football days

Soccer star David Beckham spoke to CNBC’s Tania Bryer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday about the dangers of social media and how his family deals with online bullying.

The 49-year-old president and co-owner of American football club Inter Miami looked back on his football career, which spanned from 1992 to 2013, and how he dealt with the pressure of being sent off during a match.

“I’m really glad there wasn’t social media back then because it was bad enough back then,” Beckham said. “What people told me was bad enough.”

Beckham and his wife Victoria have four children, and he says they face a lot of pressure from social media. Brooklyn, Beckham’s eldest, is 25 years old, and Harper, the youngest, is 13 years old.

“We’ll keep it that way for a while,” the former footballer said, saying his daughter is not on any social media platforms, but his sons have notable social media accounts.

“They all have people texting them and they all sit down with me and Victoria and say, ‘How do we deal with this dad?’ No matter how much you turn on them and tell them not to read, we are all involved in this problem, and it’s not just children. it happens with adults,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we live in a culture where bullying is accepted and should never be accepted. So I think social media platforms have a real responsibility to protect people from that.”

Beckham, who has more than 88 million followers on Instagram, said he feels responsible for his content and that there is “real thought” behind every post.

“The odd post goes up that’s obviously a commercial post, but I’m on top of every post, every headline, because I think it’s important,” he said.

“When you follow that kind of social media, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with it, and there’s good and bad sides to social media. What we’re trying to do with my followers and my social media platform is use it for good,” he added.

Beckham, who attended the WEF for the first time, accepted on Monday The Crystal Award — honoring “cultural leaders who have made significant contributions to social, environmental and creative progress” — for their work protecting vulnerable children. Since 2005, he has been a goodwill ambassador of UNICEF.