Dean Elgar has said that he avoids being active on social media to steer clear of negativity.

Social media platforms like Twitter‚ where fans can have direct access to professional sportsmen via their accounts‚ can be a notoriously treacherous environment for disgruntled members of the public to vent at and “troll” stars.

Elgar’s reserved personality makes it no wonder he commands hardly any presence on social media and the Titans and Proteas batting star explained why.

“I think from an individual point of view you need to be quite confident in yourself and you have got to trust your ability and always think positively‚” he said.

“I don’t have a lot of social media so that I don’t see a lot of negativity‚ because I think that players do these days because of accessibility through the phone or the laptop or whatever the case might be.

“I have taken away the social media because I just don’t like being negative. I am a positive person.

“I am not going to have people come around and say things just the way they want to say and influence my thinking.

“I think that as an individual you have that control on whether you want social media or you don’t want it‚ and obviously I have chosen not to have it.

“I have just done it this way so as to just focus on my performance and the team‚ and focus on the bigger picture and avoid the negative connotations that come with being an international sportsman.”

Elgar has no Twitter account‚ but does have an official Facebook page.