YOLOitis: A True Epidemic

I’m sure at the mere sight of the acronym YOLO(You Only Live Once) has sent some of you into a disgusted recoil. This new slang the kids have been using is a go to excuse for doing something stupid and/or reckless. I don’t quite know what it is about the younger generation, and ours partially, that make them so quick to find an excuse to drink and party that they need to abuse and disfigure what was supposed to be such a powerful, motivating phrase. The original intention of YOLO(author’s note: I HATE HATE HATE using the acronym for this but to save time and space I will swallow my pride and do it) was to inspire people to make something of their lives and make an impact on the world. That right there is the purest and truest form of advice anyone can ever receive….just be yourself and do something with what you’ve been given. I love originals over most remakes (there are a few cover songs that get an exemption), but more often than not the remakes and redefining only muddled the original meaning till it has been lost completely and all that’s left is a shell of what it could have been.

It’s is very disheartening to see all the tumblr, facebook, and twitter posts that contain some degradation of this phrase, i.e “Gunna go get sooo drunk LOL YOLO” on a fifteen year old girl’s status. I hate to sound like a pariah, but that kind of stuff really does depress me because it’s sickening to think of kids wasting themselves like that. Then there’s

YOLO Outcome v Intention

the uprising of “swag” that goes right along with the YOLO craze, wherein you see posts that say ‘Who needs good grades when you got SWAG?’ Again SWAG doesn’t pay bills, feed you, or put clothes on your back. People apparently are putting so much emphasis now on how they look and who is looking. Every generation has been like this to an extent that I won’t deny, but with all of our current social media outlets that is increased exponentially. Most of us have probably seen facebook’s Most Beautiful Teen Contest or various risque photos posted by their friends. When questioned about the appropriateness of these things most people defend themselves with some form of YOLO and they are just being themselves. Unfortunately, I personally find it hard to believe that since those photos aren’t of normal you, they are of dressed up you. If you want evidence of someone being themselves on facebook just take mine for example, I rarely put up photos of myself because I hate the self-centered mirror shots and even photos from other people are rarely staged. I put them up there, sweaty red face and all,  and live that same way in real life just ask some of my friends. I’m probably one of the weirdest and insane people, I will air-drum/guitar in public whether people are around or not because I don’t care about what others think of me only what I think of me and that is the same way you should think.

This is starting to sound a bit self-righteous so let me clear it up right here. I don’t mean be and act like me, because it’s probably a horrible idea, I mean stop caring about every fad that comes around and looking like you have SWAG because when you’re dead and gone it won’t matter. No one will care how many retweets you had or how many likes your photo received, the only thing that will matter is what you did in life. Let’s get back to the original meaning of YOLO and begin making something of our lives. We really do only live once, don’t waste it trying to impress people on tumblr you may never meet, just try and be there for your real friends who have actually been there for you. I’m sorry if this all seems a bit preachy, but I’m fairly idealistic at times and really think the recent generations really can do something of importance in this world. I have seen amazing displays of action from people joining together to fight discrimination or injustice, but we could do so much more if we could break out of this unfortunate YOLO phase. Like it most sports when things go wrong it’s time to get back to the fundamentals so then let’s get back to the fundamental meaning of YOLO: You only live once so go out and do something with your life.