There are certain trends in life that we just go along with because everyone else is. YOLO, an acronym for “You Only Live Once” is one of those things for teens, but it shouldn`t be, teens need to stay strong and not be part of this trend. Teens do not understand the consequences for the reckless behavior that usually follows a "YOLO". I believe YOLO is a bad influence for many reasons. Many people, mostly teens use it as an excuse to do stupid things, teens should be focused on living everyday to the fullest not just once, and it makes teens appear unintelligent.

YOLO is used as an excuse to participate in dangerous or reckless behavior. Teens use it as a justification to do these things, in that they have all the right reasons not to, but justify the wrong desicion with, YOLO? I'm not saying it is bad to try new things or be daring, actually I think that is what makes life interesting and fun. But taking completely insane risks and being irresponsible because of YOLO is ridiculous. Robyn Dexter, campus editor of the Eastern Illinois University's Daily Eastern News, says "When I see YOLO in a tweet, I instantly know something unintelligent and cocky is going to follow." She has a point. One person tweets " Switching seats while the car is going 100+ #YOLO." Another " risking my chances of going to jail for 60 days...#YOLO." This is just evidence of how YOLO is sending the wrong message to teens who are so easily influenced by everything they hear and see in the media.

Not just teens but all people should be focused on living everyday to the fullest. Having the best day possible and enjoying every single moment simply because life is just too short not to. But YOLO makes it seem like it is okay to make these reckless decisions every once in awhile and there will be no consequences. That is not true. If young people keep making these bad decisions the reality is they might not get another shot to keep living. As a country we are so influenced by the media, everything we see on facebook, twitter, or instagram, and the things we see blurting out of headlines and reality shows. Reality TV only shows the happy parts of partying and going out and getting drunk, perfectly sculpting the flawless celebrity life. When in actuality reality stars face the same consequences average people do. The bad is just not publicized. But notice on these shows they never show the negetive side. Comedian, Joe E. Lewis, quoted in 1952 " You only live once, but if you work it right once is enough." We as a society need to start not living once but living fully everyday.

Aside from the fact that YOLO helps justify bad decisions it also makes teens seem unintelligent. It makes teens sound like they don't care what the consequences are for putting their life in danger . That they don't care how their future will end up if they keep up this irresponsible behavior. Teens constantly complain about adults labeling them with the "teenage stereotype" of not being responsible and things related to that. But honestly can we as teens blame them when some teens fit that stereotype perfectly? YOLO or other slang terms such as "totes" or "Cray-Cray" sound ridiculous to older generations. Not only does YOLO sound unintelligentt, it can be dangerous.
YOLO is a bad influence on teens and young adults because it is used as an excuse to partake in reckless behaviors, we should not focus on living once but instead living everyday to the fullest, and simply it sounds unintelligent, and gives teens a bad reputation. Teens need to understand that there are consequences for their actions. Yes we all live once. But remember, we only die once too.