#Y.O.L.O.

   A couple of months ago, rap artist Drake released his newest album; Take Care. The album quickly went platinum and had chart topping hits. One of the songs on the album; The Motto featuring Lil Wayne and Tyga, had gained attention all around the internet within a couple of hours of the song’s initial release.

Drake’s lyrics in the song the Motto, the motto is; You Only Live Once.  Or in other words: Y.O.L.O . The phrase began showing up everywhere  on Twitter and Facebook . All of a sudden every idiotic thing that anyone had done on the weekend was now worthy to proclaim “Y.O.L.O” . I would like to think that humankind knows that humans only live once, and that it is not some recent scientific discovery . Unfortunately, you only live once is the new Carpe Diem (cease the day), but it has become an excuse for many teenagers and young adults to act without much care. Y.O.L.O. has had more of an impact than the typical words of encouragement such as cease the day.

   Not only has it had a negative impact on many young adults , but it also encourages bad behaviour .  Staying out late, partying, drinking excessively and substance abuse is “the motto” that is portrayed in the music video for the song.  I think the reason why I have such an angst against the catch phrase is for the reason that it gives individuals an excuse to act and behave without any morals.   You hear it all the time on Facebook; “Got so drunk on the weekend. #Y.O.L.O.” , “ Can’t remember what I did last night. #Y.O.L.O.” .  I know this may sound like a am rambling on, but this actually plays a huge toll on society in general . Especially the targeted age group that listens to such artists as Drake.  You only live once, so do as many stupid things as you can . That is what is surfacing on Facebook , Twitter and other social media sites.

   Speech and music is so influential on young adults, and a lot of the time they take it in the wrong context or have to push it to the extreme . Especially if the average teenager listens to 2.5 hours of music a day and one third of the songs pertain to alcohol, sex and drug abuse, this obviously sooner or late will have an negative impact. Why ? Because they see their friends doing these things, they see it on television and hear their favorite rap artist singing about it (Y.O.LO.) . So what do they do? They act upon it or go out and get a tattoo about it. Am I right or am I right?

     This in a sense is engraved into our western culture ; act first , think later . This is extremely problematic  because where is the line drawn?  For example, my younger sister who is merely the age of sixteen was on Facebook the other day and was kind of chuckling to herself. I asked her what was so funny and she told me it was just what one of her friends on Facebook had posted. It was a picture album with the album title: Y.O.L.O. , and all it was filled was with underage kids drinking and partying. Thankfully my sister is not like that, but still I was just absolutely shocked at what I saw. I was just proof of how the phrase was almost in a sense ; used as an awful excuse to party in excess. Not only that but my sister had also mentioned that so many people love that song at her school and say it . She said that all the kids who party all the time always say it. So in a sense, if you want to be cool, you only live once has to be in your vocabulary.  The influence and impact that language has on young adults is just astonishing and this was just another example of that fact.

    You only live once is a pretty obvious statement . If you only live one then, go out and do something with your life. Travel, explore, get an education and become a somebody. Another famous quote by Mae West is; “ You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” This quote sums it all up nicely. If you only have one life you should live it to the fullest, try new things, meet new people and leave a legacy behind to be proud of .

Just a thought to keep in mind the next time anyone says Y.O.L.O.!! J