1. Awareness 2. YOLO like a Mofo 3. YOLO responsibly
YOLO – You Only Live Once. The modern day “Carpe Diem” defined a Millennial generation. Now that the youth who grew up with the YOLO motto have matured, what does YOLO mean now? Here’s our observations on how the YOLO ethos has evolved throughout the years.
Step 1. Awareness - What Is YOLO?
Flashback to when YOLO was at its peak. The phrase infiltrated the hearts and minds of youth culture. Online content was covered in YOLO quotes, hashtags, and memes. People who never heard of YOLO before were now using it their everyday vocabulary. Why did it become so popular? Strangely enough, the phrase’s devil-may-care attitude captured two duel aspects of youth spirit – inspiring bravery and courage or excusing an idiotic, embarrassing decision.
Step 2. YOLO Like A MoFo
It’s the latter meaning of YOLO that originally skyrocketed the phrase into the party scene. The first evolution of YOLO justified irresponsible decisions. Breaking it down in this context, the meaning behind YOLO went something more along the lines of “I’m only going to live once, so I may as well have as much fun for as long as possible. Why care about consequences?” Carried in this phrase is an underlying feeling of anxiety and cynicism about an uncertain future. Hollering YOLO with a red cup in your hand can only live for so long though. YOLO devolved into a sarcastic and ironic joke just as quickly as it rose to popularity. Anyone YOLO’ing in today’s day and age certainly looks like a MoFo.
Step 3. YOLO Responsibly
The third stage of YOLO moves past acting irresponsibly into it’s other meaning – gratefully creating a meaningful life for yourself and others. Years later, disaffected Millennials let go of their existential angst to look at what life could mean beyond their party years. While the phrase is no longer popularly used, young people today look at how they can contribute to the world.
“What will I do with my life?”
“How can I explore all life has to offer?”
“If I only live once, how can I leave a positive legacy and change the world?”
This mindset aligns with Millennial’s focus on socially conscious companies. For example, Tom’s shoes “buy one, give one” shoe program. Here’s where people craft their own meaning for what YOLO means. Currently, Drake’s “The Motto” has 72 million views on Youtube. YOLO obviously still means something to someone.
We are at the point where people YOLO responsibly.
Word Up:
Swomi carries this responsible and meaningful ethos into our “Why.” We believe all people deserve to benefit from their online data and content when, in today’s age, online corporations exploit and datamine internet users for profit. To learn more about your empowered digital life, visit us at Swomi.com. Live your YOLO everyone. And thanks for reading.
This article is letter (Y) of our “Digi Lifestyle" series where we write an article for each letter of the phrase. “Digital Lifestyle" Before anyone realized, we all became immersed and intertwined to our digital devices and internet connection. By laying out a theme related to the Digital Lifestyle everyday, we learned valuable insights into the mindsets, behaviors, and norms that sprout from living so intimately with technology.
(D) What Is The (D)igital Lifestyle?
(I)oT? More Like IoY – Internet of You!
(G) 3 Timeless Steps To Achieve Personal, Career, Squad (G)oals
(I)n The Age Of Intelligent Machines, What Are Humans For?
(L)et’s Learn - Top 10 Most Effective Types Of Content
(I)nteractions And Relationship Success Online
(E) Why (E)ntrepreneurs Live For The Digital Lifestyle
(S) How We Are All (S)tudents Of The Digital Life
(T) How The Digital Lifestyle Has Changed (T)ravel Forever
(L)iving Off The Grid – When The Digital Lifestyle Goes Wrong
(E) Entrepreneur Your Way To Online Success All From Your Sofa
