DeMar DeRozan explains why he isn’t on social media more

Spurs swingman DeMar DeRozan recently appeared on YouTube with rapper Jason “Problem” Martin for the inaugural episode of “Morning Walks”. Having both grown up in Compton, California, the two discuss a multitude of topics, such as life growing up in the area, DeRozan’s basketball career, and how things are different today than they once were.

Perhaps most notably, in Part 1 DeRozan explained why despite being a vocal advocate for issues like mental health and social justice, he’s not as active on social media as many in his position are:

“(Pocket watching) makes me hate social media. People play this whole perception of they’re perfect. ‘Let me put my phone down, I’m really miserable because I don’t want to put in the work to make it look like how I’m really looking.’ . . . It’s too fake.”

That seems pretty relatable. There’s few things more annoying than people hiding behind the anonymous wall of social media and either pretending to be someone they aren’t, or saying stuff to other people online that they would never say in person. DeRozan also gave his advice on how to motivate such people to be better:

Learn from your mistakes and the opportunities you missed upon in your younger stages. Make due full throttle of everything you’re trying to do going forward, whatever that may be. It can be going into coaching, it can be going into scouting, whatever it may be. Opportunity is always there. You got to get out of the way of what led you to be stagnant in the first place. If you’re just a content person with life, you are who you are. The person has to want it more than you see it in them.

He also discussed more basketball oriented topics in Part 2, such as where he finds the motivation to keep giving his all on the court and life after basketball. You can watch Part 1 and Part 2 by clicking the links, but WARNING: lots of NSFW language, so make sure you have your headphones in if you aren’t alone.