"You could be having a great morning. You read one thing, and it just ruins your whole day," Declan Rice said in an interview that put his break from X back in focus. Rice says he left the platform three years ago and has not gone back since. He also used the same conversation to talk about the pressure social media puts on children.

Rice's break from X

Rice's view on social media is tied to more than his own routine. He said, in comments quoted by A Bola in Portuguese, "I think social media for children is 100 percent a problem. I feel that nowadays there is no longer as much personality as there was a few years ago."

That sits alongside a more personal detail from the same line of reporting. Lauren Fryer deleted all the posts from her Instagram profile in 2024 after online abuse about her appearance, and Rice has a four-year-old son called Jude.

Money, family values and Arsenal

The interview also moved beyond X. Rice said football money is "ridiculous" and talked about wanting his son to understand the value of life and money rather than being spoiled.

He is close to signing a new long-term deal at Arsenal worth around £350,000 per week, according to reports, and that would put him on a level footing with Bukayo Saka at the top of the club's salary list. Arsenal are also top of the Premier League with 27 points from 10 matches, and Rice's workload remains heavy. He has played 827 Premier League minutes in 2026, which works out at 82.7 minutes per appearance, and his last five outings across club and country have brought 63, 90, 90, 80 and 90 minutes.

Rice's recent level has not dipped while he has been speaking so openly about the off-pitch side of the game. He has averaged 7.22 across his last five matches, with an 8.2-rated Champions League outing included in that run.

England's next game is at home to Croatia on Thursday night in the UEFA Nations League, so Rice will move straight from the conversation back into another high-profile fixture.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →