4 ms·

I think that philosophically I'm against taking drugs to make me work harder, I don't live to work. I save the party for the weekend, there's something anti-hed

I think that philosophically I'm against taking drugs to make me work harder, I don't live to work. I save the party for the weekend, there's something anti-hedonistic about getting off your bean on dextroamphetamine or modafinal for work. I've had my fair share of hard mornings, but I've never had the desire to take substances to help me through the Monday slump. I'm also medically against it, because it's how habits form. There are a lot of people who have become addicted to methamphetamine because they started using to be able to work harder for longer (apparently it's a problem in industries like meatworks, where workers are paid piece rates per animal).

raducu 8y ago
I've tried a lot of substances to help me better focus and I'm sure drugs are not the single solution and I'm still tunning my approach. Some substance/combinations have had a dramatic effect on my ability to focus, unfortunately they are not perfect/and or I'm unable to find some. I'm not using drugs to "work harder", it's just that I'm unable to work for weeks at a time without chemical help (I'm chewing some nicotine gum as I'm typing). I think that being "medically against it" is doing a tremendous amount of harm to millions of people throuout the world (in my country you can't bediagnosed with ADHD as an adult for example), just as being to lax about it.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  Using ritalin or dexy because it is prescribed for ADHD is fine, just as it's fine to take antibiotics or antidepressants if they've been prescribed for you to be able to function normally. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who use methamphetamine to work longer shifts, or modafinil to get that mental edge over their colleagues so they can get that promotion and a pay rise. I believe that (with the exception of prescribed drugs) you should never take drugs because you feel you need to. You should only ever take drugs because you want to. Dropping a cap of MDMA or drinking a bottle of wine because you've had a shit week is a sure fire way to develop a habit, I know this from experience.
  - nradov 8y ago
    That seems like a rather arbitrary distinction considering that diagnosing mental disorders still involves many false positives and false negatives.
mirimir 8y ago
The distinction between work and play is subtle. Depending on my mood, casual conversation is harder work than data analysis. Or fixing some broken thing.

raducu 8y ago

I've tried a lot of substances to help me better focus and I'm sure drugs are not the single solution and I'm still tunning my approach. Some substance/combinations have had a dramatic effect on my ability to focus, unfortunately they are not perfect/and or I'm unable to find some. I'm not using drugs to "work harder", it's just that I'm unable to work for weeks at a time without chemical help (I'm chewing some nicotine gum as I'm typing). I think that being "medically against it" is doing a tremendous amount of harm to millions of people throuout the world (in my country you can't bediagnosed with ADHD as an adult for example), just as being to lax about it.

toomanybeersies 8y ago
Using ritalin or dexy because it is prescribed for ADHD is fine, just as it's fine to take antibiotics or antidepressants if they've been prescribed for you to be able to function normally. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who use methamphetamine to work longer shifts, or modafinil to get that mental edge over their colleagues so they can get that promotion and a pay rise. I believe that (with the exception of prescribed drugs) you should never take drugs because you feel you need to. You should only ever take drugs because you want to. Dropping a cap of MDMA or drinking a bottle of wine because you've had a shit week is a sure fire way to develop a habit, I know this from experience.
- nradov 8y ago
  That seems like a rather arbitrary distinction considering that diagnosing mental disorders still involves many false positives and false negatives.

mirimir 8y ago

The distinction between work and play is subtle. Depending on my mood, casual conversation is harder work than data analysis. Or fixing some broken thing.