Recently retired forward Travis Cloke has revealed his difficulties in being able to break away from social media, which he believes was a major factor in his mental health battles this year.
The 2010 Collingwood premiership forward missed two games in the middle of this season for second club the Western Bulldogs after admitting that he was battling depression.
Cloke says that these struggles were a culmination of a tough two to three years mentally, citing the impact of social media criticism as a big factor towards his degrading mental health.
“I took so much on, a lot of pressure and obviously social media is a big influence on all our lives,” he told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“It’s the way the game has gone, the way advertisement is happening and the way players are there to build their own brand.
“Anyone can say what they want to say on social media, and it’s not necessarily those one or two comments that gets you, it’s death by 1000 cuts. You read it after a game, week in, week out. You start doubting yourself and having insecurities and I broke down this year.
“I was just sitting there one day and I thought this was all too much for me, I need to talk to someone here and I need a bit of help here.
“That’s the tough thing. Footy is such a robust, masculine sport. To show feelings or emotions is almost frowned upon, but I think we are getting there as an industry and also as a sport.”
Cloke says that simply removing himself from social media wasn’t a straight forward action, believing that an addiction to social networking sites is tough to break.
“I did remove myself from social media. I deleted Twitter and really limited how I used social networking, but sometimes it’s hard to remove yourself from something that’s so addictive,” he said.
“Addiction isn’t nearly always to do with drinking, alcohol or gambling, you can have social media addiction as well.
“It’s tough. Mental health as well is probably an issue that is on the rise in professional sport, not just football, and in society.
“The way we use our phones now is so important to all of us in any work environment so it is a little bit of education and a little bit of understanding of what we use it for, but it’s also trying to take time away from just your phone in general.”
Cloke says that he feels for the pressure younger players will now have to deal with, advising them to try and spend as much of their time away from their respective clubs off social media.
“I feel sorry for the young kids coming through because it is going to be a tough environment to cope with the mental stress but also the physical stress of AFL football,” he said.
“I worked with young Josh Schache when he was coming through the AIS academy at Collingwood, he was there for a week. I always told him balance about football and lifestyle is important.
“I think that’s the key now more than ever. Really work hard when you’re at the footy club, but you also need to find time to switch off and remove yourself from that football world and that bubble because it is so contagious here in Melbourne and it is so hard to remove yourself from.”
Cloke played 256 games in his 12-year AFL career, booting 452 goals.
He says he is yet to decide whether he will emulate his older brothers and enter local footy after their AFL careers were over.