3 ms·
In addition to the many insightful replies here add: Once you have a working class addicted to some combination of fast food, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, pot, opi
by mcculley 5y ago
In addition to the many insightful replies here add: Once you have a working class addicted to some combination of fast food, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, pot, opioids, and other drugs which cost money, they have a reduced capability to dig themselves out of a hole.
- samatman 5y agoMan it is super weird that you put caffeine on that list. I assume, because you did it, that you're one of those mutants who doesn't use it nor like it much. Good for you and all, but caffeine made the modern world, the majority of the population uses it every day, and industrial society wouldn't function without it. It's also super-cheap even on a modest salary, and most workplaces give it away for free because of how necessary it is to production.
- mcculley 5y agoI am aware of Pollan's recently well-publicized assertion that caffeine made the modern world. I am unconvinced. I quit caffeine a few years ago. I'm not an unusual mutant. I have the genes on markers rs4410790 and rs2470893 that indicate a typical reaction to caffeine. (https://enki.org/2017/08/13/quitting-caffeine/ https://enki.org/2017/08/13/quitting-caffeine/) Most people experience a temporary increase in productivity until they build up a tolerance for caffeine. Thereafter, they are just paying and consuming to avoid headaches and reach the baseline.
- diordiderot 5y agoWhat was your experience quitting like. I want to but am afraid
- mcculley 5y agoIt was not bad. I wrote about it in the linked blog piece. I also recommend /r/decaf where you can get support from others who have been and are going through decaffeinating.
- grecy 5y agoI'm not the person you replied to, but I can share my experience. I used to drink at least 2 cups of coffee a day, and at least 3-4 of black tea. over a year I slowly backed down to just a single coffee coffee in the morning.. then eventually switched to decafe coffee for that one. I had headaches for about a week, and I think I was irritable. Recently I stopped even the decafe coffee, and now drink 1 or 2 decafe tea a day when it's cold. I feel great, save money and don't miss the ups and downs of real coffee - I used to get the sweats, shakes, funny shallow breathing, etc. etc. I also had no idea I was living life through a "fog", that I didn't even know about until a few months after I stopped. Life is much better now.
- axiosgunnar 5y agoLiterally just a few days of headache/foggy brain. Then it‘s magically gone. Not even close to a full week. Just do it.
- balfirevic 5y ago> Thereafter, they are just paying and consuming to avoid headaches and reach the baseline. No, it is also for a great deal of enjoyment.
- tolbish 5y agoIf that were true, everyone would be drinking decaf for the taste.
- ntlk 5y agoDecaf has a very different flavour profile.
- mcculley 5y agoMy experience consuming caffeine for 35 years was that the enjoyment required increasing consumptions. This is common for most. Maybe it is different for you.
- blindmute 5y agoAll studies confirm that caffeine consumed regularly does not improve alertness or anything else above baseline. After a tolerance is built, daily caffeine only returns the user to baseline performance, that they have fallen under due to withdrawal. If you use caffeine for more than about 2 or 3 days in a row, it stops doing anything useful. If everyone quit caffeine immediately, there would be a couple weeks of awful productivity, and then everything would go back to normal.
- alisonkisk 5y agoYou skipped rent which dwarfs all that. Fast food and sugar are cheap for what you get. Pot isn't addictive.
- mcculley 5y agoFor many, addictions are not dwarfed by rent or other housing costs. I recommend you meet some addicts and learn of what they are going through. The myth that pot is not addictive is contradicted by the physical withdrawal symptoms experienced and described by many. These are tools to keep siphoning labor from the working class. The system is working as designed.