Now she want a photo. You already know though. You only live once: that’s the motto; n**** YOLO.

This lyric from rapper Drake’s song “The Motto” has overtaken today’s youth, causing an epidemic of insufferable and irresponsible juvenile drunkenness and stupidity.

YOLO (You Only Live Once) has been the basis of most college students’ drinking binges as of late. Plagued all across the Facebook pages of many users are photos of teenagers cheering with a red Solo cups or an alcoholic beverage, along the caption: “YOLO,” or something similar.

There’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from celebrities, but it’s another thing to use their art form to rationalize carelessness. The worst part is that it doesn’t even make sense. “You only live once” so let’s drink life away?

That’s a ridiculous concept. You only live once, so why not embellish it? Get some education, finish school; and get a career. Set goals and accomplish them. Make a name for yourself. Do whatever it takes so that you can look back and be proud of your life and proud to showcase it. Don’t waste all your time getting drunk and high.

Not to say that having fun every once in a while is prohibited, but to let it interfere or supersede your responsibilities as a student and as an adult is foolish. Most of the YOLO notion is nothing more than an escape from reality, which is much like the purpose of social media for some.

Then again, this is probably just a fad, not to be taken so seriously. Not too long ago, everyone was cranking that Soulja Boy or ridin’ dirty (or at least pretended to). YOLO will be popular until the next “new” thing comes along, or until their parents start to YOLO. People nowadays are highly impressionable, which explains all of the YOLO postings across the social mediums.

Everyone has the need to “fit in” with the crowd and apparently drinking yourself to oblivion has become today’s standard of “fitting in.” It all seems glamorous until the hangover the next morning and the
realization of a night lost of productiveness and recollection–only to be recalled through drunken texts,
Facebook and Twitter posts.

Life was much simpler when it was just “mo’ money, mo’ problems.”

But maybe YOLO is more than just a reason to drink. Maybe it’s more than just a phrase. Maybe it is a
way life. It’s true; you do only live once, so live it up to the fullest, regardless of your responsibilities and/
or wellbeing. So bottoms up and live young, wild and free by going gorillas in Paris, every day, every day,
every day, because that’s cray.