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I feel like people are slowly waking up to how insane our collective addiction to (and glorification of) caffeine actually is.

Afton 6y ago
I feel that addictions are only a problem if they are a problem. As far as we can tell, non-crazy-quantity coffee drinking isn't bad for you, might be helpful for some things, and tastes delicious. The only downside is that I have to be slightly prepared if I am not going to be able to easily consume my regular doses of caffeine. And if I want to cut/stop, it takes about a week or so to do so comfortably. As for the glorification, I think it's really a glorification of workaholics, and 'needing coffee to get through yet another pile of TPS Reports' is more a badge of honor than anything else.
- anonporridge 6y ago
  I think that many addictions can be ok, so long as you understand how much power they have over you and keep a wary eye on them. An addiction can work well in some environment but completely destroy you if your environment changes. Also, I'm not convinced that caffeine addiction is completely overcome in the week or so it takes for the physical withdrawal. Even for myself when I decide to go through long periods of decaffeination, I find that my energy and motivation is significantly deteriorated from when I regularly caffeinate. Sometimes I wonder if my regular use as a college student permanently altered my brain chemistry. On the flip side, maybe this use set me up for the early career success that I might not otherwise have achieved.
  - wyre 6y ago
    Caffeine is a drug that generally increases energy and motivation so it makes sense that those levels wouldn’t be as high without consuming it.
  - Afton 6y ago
    Another option is that you have one of a handful of atypical neurologies for which caffeine is a form of self-medication. Again, the problem is availability, and we've decided in this country (and most countries) that caffeine should be widely available. So it's not a significant problem, and is easy if slightly time-consuming if you need to update your context. It's probably worth tying this discussion into applications to e.g. the war on drugs, but the language there tends to be so hyped up that it's too hard to have a good discussion about it.
- nebari 6y ago
  Isn't that the primary difference between an addiction and a dependency? Something can be done/used regularly that would be considered a dependency (e.g., coffee), but only elevates to addiction-level severity when said behaviour becomes problematic.
  - Afton 6y ago
    Yes. E.g. https://www.hss.edu/conditions_understanding-addiction-versus-dependence.asp https://www.hss.edu/conditions_understanding-addiction-versu... Which makes you wonder how much drug use would be merely 'dependence' if we had free and easy access. I suspect it is a drug-by-drug case, depending on length of trip, relative incapacitation, physical dependencies (/withdrawal), rate of tolerance increase, etc.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
SamPatt 6y ago
Replace caffeine with the name of many other drugs and in this thread you'd hardly notice a difference. Caffeine is a highly socially acceptable drug. Doesn't mean it's all that different from them.
wsc981 6y ago
I'm addicted to coffee, but I am never gonna stop drinking coffee. Coffee is just too delicious, especially a well-made cappuccino. I think coffee as a guilty pleasure is not that bad to be honest. There are worse things to be addicted to. The best way to enjoy a good cup of coffee, for me, is staying at a nice sea view condo. And then early in the morning sit outside on the balcony, slowly sipping, enjoying the taste of coffee in my mouth, listening to the waves crashing on the beach, feeling the sun on my skin all while looking at the sea. For me, there's no better way to start a day.
executesorder66 6y ago
I drink a lot of coffee. 8 to 15 cups a day. I always have. I have an insane caffeine tolerance. One day (I was about 20 at the time) I wondered "am I addicted"? So as an experiment I quite cold turkey. I didn't drink any coffee or tea for a week. I didn't get any headaches, and I didn't feel any kind of withdrawal syndrome. Yes on the first day I really felt like some coffee in the morning, but after not drinking it my body just accepted it. And I went on with my day. After about a week of literally no changes, I concluded that I cannot be addicted. I went back to drinking coffee at the same rate and never stopped. It doesn't provide me much benefit (like concentration or energy) due to my very high tolerance. But I just really like coffee so I'm going to carry on drinking it. I wonder if I am a weird exception, or if there are many others like me. We really like coffee but we are not actually addicted to it. I suppose the same could be said about alcohol. Some people react very differently towards it and get easily addicted, while others don't even though they drink a lot and just do it for enjoyments sake.
- Workaccount2 6y ago
  At least with cigarettes, it takes 2 - 4 years to really cement your addiction. Plenty of younger people (well I guess it's with juuls now) tell themselves they can quit whenever they want, and take break during a week of family vacation. No problem, so they keep on smoking. 5 years later when they try to quit they realize that maybe they weren't as bulletproof as they thought. I know for sure it happened to me. Of course caffeine could be totally different addiction wise, and thankfully not nearly as deadly, but just some food for thought.
  - executesorder66 6y ago
    I had already been drinking coffee for at least 6 years by that time. But I was actually thinking of trying it again for a longer period of time (~ 6 months) and seeing what happens.

Afton 6y ago

I feel that addictions are only a problem if they are a problem. As far as we can tell, non-crazy-quantity coffee drinking isn't bad for you, might be helpful for some things, and tastes delicious. The only downside is that I have to be slightly prepared if I am not going to be able to easily consume my regular doses of caffeine. And if I want to cut/stop, it takes about a week or so to do so comfortably. As for the glorification, I think it's really a glorification of workaholics, and 'needing coffee to get through yet another pile of TPS Reports' is more a badge of honor than anything else.

anonporridge 6y ago
I think that many addictions can be ok, so long as you understand how much power they have over you and keep a wary eye on them. An addiction can work well in some environment but completely destroy you if your environment changes. Also, I'm not convinced that caffeine addiction is completely overcome in the week or so it takes for the physical withdrawal. Even for myself when I decide to go through long periods of decaffeination, I find that my energy and motivation is significantly deteriorated from when I regularly caffeinate. Sometimes I wonder if my regular use as a college student permanently altered my brain chemistry. On the flip side, maybe this use set me up for the early career success that I might not otherwise have achieved.
- wyre 6y ago
  Caffeine is a drug that generally increases energy and motivation so it makes sense that those levels wouldn’t be as high without consuming it.
- Afton 6y ago
  Another option is that you have one of a handful of atypical neurologies for which caffeine is a form of self-medication. Again, the problem is availability, and we've decided in this country (and most countries) that caffeine should be widely available. So it's not a significant problem, and is easy if slightly time-consuming if you need to update your context. It's probably worth tying this discussion into applications to e.g. the war on drugs, but the language there tends to be so hyped up that it's too hard to have a good discussion about it.
nebari 6y ago
Isn't that the primary difference between an addiction and a dependency? Something can be done/used regularly that would be considered a dependency (e.g., coffee), but only elevates to addiction-level severity when said behaviour becomes problematic.
- Afton 6y ago
  Yes. E.g. https://www.hss.edu/conditions_understanding-addiction-versus-dependence.asp https://www.hss.edu/conditions_understanding-addiction-versu... Which makes you wonder how much drug use would be merely 'dependence' if we had free and easy access. I suspect it is a drug-by-drug case, depending on length of trip, relative incapacitation, physical dependencies (/withdrawal), rate of tolerance increase, etc.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

SamPatt 6y ago

Replace caffeine with the name of many other drugs and in this thread you'd hardly notice a difference. Caffeine is a highly socially acceptable drug. Doesn't mean it's all that different from them.

wsc981 6y ago

I'm addicted to coffee, but I am never gonna stop drinking coffee. Coffee is just too delicious, especially a well-made cappuccino. I think coffee as a guilty pleasure is not that bad to be honest. There are worse things to be addicted to. The best way to enjoy a good cup of coffee, for me, is staying at a nice sea view condo. And then early in the morning sit outside on the balcony, slowly sipping, enjoying the taste of coffee in my mouth, listening to the waves crashing on the beach, feeling the sun on my skin all while looking at the sea. For me, there's no better way to start a day.

executesorder66 6y ago

I drink a lot of coffee. 8 to 15 cups a day. I always have. I have an insane caffeine tolerance. One day (I was about 20 at the time) I wondered "am I addicted"? So as an experiment I quite cold turkey. I didn't drink any coffee or tea for a week. I didn't get any headaches, and I didn't feel any kind of withdrawal syndrome. Yes on the first day I really felt like some coffee in the morning, but after not drinking it my body just accepted it. And I went on with my day. After about a week of literally no changes, I concluded that I cannot be addicted. I went back to drinking coffee at the same rate and never stopped. It doesn't provide me much benefit (like concentration or energy) due to my very high tolerance. But I just really like coffee so I'm going to carry on drinking it. I wonder if I am a weird exception, or if there are many others like me. We really like coffee but we are not actually addicted to it. I suppose the same could be said about alcohol. Some people react very differently towards it and get easily addicted, while others don't even though they drink a lot and just do it for enjoyments sake.

Workaccount2 6y ago
At least with cigarettes, it takes 2 - 4 years to really cement your addiction. Plenty of younger people (well I guess it's with juuls now) tell themselves they can quit whenever they want, and take break during a week of family vacation. No problem, so they keep on smoking. 5 years later when they try to quit they realize that maybe they weren't as bulletproof as they thought. I know for sure it happened to me. Of course caffeine could be totally different addiction wise, and thankfully not nearly as deadly, but just some food for thought.
- executesorder66 6y ago
  I had already been drinking coffee for at least 6 years by that time. But I was actually thinking of trying it again for a longer period of time (~ 6 months) and seeing what happens.