Is the way of drinking, drugs and partying accurate and fairly attributed to celebrities, or is this purely a lifestyle nowadays?

Remember a few years ago when Lindsay Lohan was the Hollywood “it” girl? When Britney Spears was once able to net an annual income of $34 million, according to the “2002 Forbes’ Celebrity 100 List.”

These celebrities and socialites alike seemingly had a bright future in the limelight. Now, it seems their celebrity careers may be in jeopardy.

With celebrity gossip sites like TMZ.com and people like celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton, the public literally has a voyeuristic view into the lives of these celebrities.

Whenever they step out for a night on the town, there are cameras. In my eyes, the lifestyles of these starlets are the major factor that has placed their careers on hold.

However, what could be said if this sense of seeing the ins and outs of a person’s life was shifted to college students? Instead of TMZ.com having their cameras ready to catch a celebrity in the act of vagrancy.

If the public saw the late-night activities that some students engage in, a celebrity falling down drunk might seem minute in comparison.

I’m not sold on the fact that these sites accurately or inaccurately depict these celebrities or that they have an influence on college students. It seems as though the events that the celebrities are engaging in are much more tolerable and accepted than in years past.

Our minds have already been molded from the much more conservative early and mid-’90s. Kids today seem to have a much more intensive developmental process from seeing their favorite former tweener’s fall from grace.

Lindsay Lohan once acted alongside Meryl Streep. Now, she hasn’t had a hit in three years. In 2007 alone, she has been arrested for two DUIs, cocaine possession and a hit-and-run and she is only 21 years old.

Britney Spears was pop music royalty and now throughout the course of the last few months, she has had a highly publicized divorce, been to rehab and shaved her head. Celebrities who were once innocent with respectable reputations are now becoming tarnished.

College students alike can fall into a sole lifestyle of partying. Being away from home for the first time in some student’s life opens up the doors to a world of partying constantly.

Having a lighter school schedule in comparison to high school and weekends where there are parties as far as the eye can see allows college students to engage in these acts excessively. I don’t find anything wrong with partying. However, moderation is the key when you go out to a bar or to a party.

I don’t buy into the mentality of “you only live once,” because if that was taken seriously, partying wouldn’t be your main object in life. Hollywood party scenes give a subconscious message that this is the norm.

The intoxicating elements that go along with partying and the seductive atmosphere that goes along with it should not solely be the means by which people relax.

The statistics of drinking and drug use amongst college students are haunting, but at the same time, very believable. According to Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD), two out of every five college students are binge drinkers and 48 percent of the alcohol consumed at four-year colleges are done so by underage students.

Therefore, in a college class of 25 students, 10 of our peers drink more than five alcoholic beverages when they go out.

I’m sure some students go out every night and still have time to do homework, go to work or go to class. But to those who can’t find the gray area in between a life of partying and a life of responsibility, there needs to be a solution.

Much like all of the starlets in Tinseltown, in order to secure our futures we must find that balance between what’s real right now and what’s real after we graduate.

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