The Burden of a ‘Like’: Social Media’s Vice-Like Grip on Virat Kohli
If you do a Google search for “Virat Kohli like”, you will find over a hundred news articles – perhaps even a few hundred. And you realise how futile the whole thing is. The moot point is that Kohli had liked a post by someone. Frankly, who cares? Hey, stop – we do. Social media does. Idiotic social media does. And some have even gone so far as to suggest that Kohli is getting a divorce!
Events like this tell you about the futility of social media and also show how you can’t live your life on it, come what may. Kohli is a prisoner of this, and to an extent, he is responsible as well. During the last controversy, he tried to offer a justification. Why, though? He can go ahead and like any post from anyone. He can post photos with anyone. As long as his family doesn’t have an issue with it, who on social media has any right to object?
You sense that Kohli is trapped within the contours that his own larger-than-life persona has created. He can’t do the things you and I do. He can’t lead a life, for God’s sake! If he can’t like a post – and if he does, it becomes a national headline – imagine the sad plight of the man.
Whoever is advising him shouldn’t have asked him to unlike it. Why, and for what? Big deal. He should have just gone ahead with his life, for he isn’t answerable to anyone. It was essential that, being Virat Kohli, he stood up to social media and resisted. That he couldn’t is disappointing, but the truth is we wouldn’t know his compulsions. It also shows just how intrusive and obnoxious social media can be.
Social media, clearly, is a double-edged sword. Kohli has thrived on it and has used his millions of followers when he has needed them. Now it is coming back to bite him. If he can’t like a post by someone, imagine how utterly claustrophobic things are for him. And also imagine what we have reduced ourselves to. For the many meme-makers who had a field day at his expense, clearly they don’t have better things to do, and this is where their livelihood comes from.
Often, we tend to think how great Kohli’s life must be – money, fame, fandom, adulation, craze. What could be better? The truth is, the price he has to pay for being Virat Kohli is immense. In fact, the trade-off, after a point, can drive anyone mad. Now I understand better why he decided to leave India and settle in the UK. In India, he would be driven mad. He can’t walk, talk, be visible, or do anything he wants. England is an escape, and that’s the reality for him.
At times, Kohli has said that after cricket, we won’t see him and that he will disappear from the public glare. We now know why: to stay sane – and to live.
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