Do not expect to see tweets from Steve Smith Sr. any time soon.
The veteran receiver has given up Twitter.
"I'm done with it. I think technology can help you and it can hurt you," he said Thursday in the Ravens locker room.
Smith had seen enough of Twitter's ugly side, where users can toss out insults and consistently bash athletes or celebrities. He just didn't want to deal with it anymore.
"People are going to say what they want on Twitter. Internet courage is great," Smith said.
"Internet courage is like a cover-2 corner. You got a safety over the top and you feel better about yourself. You got that one-on-one coverage, you back off a little bit. That's how I look at Twitter."
When Smith came to Baltimore, his Twitter feed became an instant hit.
He routinely shared jokes, inspirational quotes and even used it as a way to mend fences after a practice scuffle with cornerback Lardarius Webb. He would also routinely go back-and-forth with fans on Twitter, answering questions or responding to some of their trash talk.
But he knew that it was a dangerous line to walk.
"I'll kill you on Twitter, so I had to stop," he said. "Somebody will say something inappropriate to me, and my wife said I wasn't being a very good example for my kids."
Smith isn't the only Raven to back off the social media platform.
Wide receiver Torrey Smith, who was one of the team's most active social media users, also deleted the Twitter app from his phone. Smith still occasionally tweets, but only when he's posting photos from the Sqor app designed as a sharing platform for athletes.
"I have no outside distractions when I'm here," Torrey Smith said. "That's my new trick. I want to stay positive."
Smith Sr. said that the only reason he initially created a Twitter account was because there was a fake account in his name sending inappropriate direct messages to other users. He opened an account to stop that trend, and eventually embraced social media.
He still has an open account, but he hasn’t tweeted since Oct. 6 when he announced that he was signing off for good. Now he only plans to use Twitter as a marketing tool, and as a medium to spread news about his foundation work.
"I just think at the end of the day, what's on my Twitter feed and what's going on in the world, I don't think they should be on the same level."
