Paul Galvin would wholeheartedly agree on this.
Marc Ó Sé pretty much saw it all in his inter-county career.
The former Kerry defender won a rake-load of club, county and personal accolades over a career that spanned from the turn of the Millennium.
When he first broke into the Kerry team, not every member of the squad was in possession of a mobile phone. How times have changed.
In his latter years with Kerry, and with his club side, Ó Sé got used to teammates with their heads glued to smart-phone screens. He accepted it, and even fell into it, but that’s not to say he liked the way things were going.
Ó Sé was a guest panellist on SportsJOE Live this week and lamented a changing of the social tides. He said:
“The problem now is, like, it’s a joke.
“We’re at a stage now where we can’t even converse with each other because you’re stuck to your mobile phone and there’s no fellas properly chatting to each other.
“Especially fellas who play football together. You’re probably stuck on a bus and you’re on some form of social media or the other. Whereas you could be chatting about positional plays or defenders coming together. Stuff like that.”
Ó Sé’s comments to ring true with something expressed by former Kingdom teammate Paul Galvin at the weekend. In The Sunday Times, Galvin wrote:
“In time, some think-tank at a University should do a study on WhatsApp and its effect on team culture and mentality.
“It took hold of the game towards the end of my career and I never got into it. It’s all smiley faces, thumbs up and virtual high fives from the couch nowadays
The full Ó Sé chat about social media starts from 36:00 in the video below:
