I was on a prescribed stimulant for 6 months. It was nice for work, but it ended up with too many side effects that kind of mess with ones head. It tends to "simplify" complex decision making processes and not just for code but for life decisions.
So the article should be about how we are an addicted society to accurately capture the essence. You can be addicted to anything - good or bad or indifferent. And that's definitely the culture...
There's a fine line, as with alcohol. A single cup of tea might feel refreshing. A monster energy drink is going to feel like a fight or flight response. Some people are also more sensitive than others and some are addicted more really than others.
I guess I am a little bias here too - if my caffeine intake goes near 200 mg for the day then I get shaky. I have a friend who can toe the line at 700-800 mg! Which I read the other day that is the 'danger zone'.
I do find the economics / work narrative relatively unconvincing. For one workload in the developed world has fallen by about 40-50% over the last 100 years. Consuming stimulants is as popular among call it the 'lazy bum class' (no offense, I grew up in a deadbeat town) as it is among strivers. Coffee goes back five thousand years, Nicotine as far as recorded history, that is 10k+ years.
They've always had recreational or even ritual use, and the health fads against stimulants and cleansing crazes usually come from the work-obsessed than anyone else. So I don't think that we run on stimulants, I'm pretty sure we'd do them regardless.
I hypothesize that most of the stimulant use is actually due to poor sleep hygiene and jacked circadian rhythms, because of electricity and lighting on-demand.
> brutal labor conditions in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Indonesia, where more and more workers are turning to amphetamines to “work without stopping.”
...
> All of this adds up to one thing: a form of hyper-capitalist imperialism
Does this just not happen, then, in communist Vietnam or Laos?
>> There’s a generational split in those numbers; among the under-35 crowd, it’s 60 percent. The older demographic still prefers coffee, and 66 percent of Americans drink that every day, too.
But, but! Isn't coffee consumption supposed to provide health benefits too? Like "reduced risks of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver conditions, and overall mortality".
Seems odd to lump coffee into the same bucket with energy drinks.
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 16.7 ms ] threadeven tobacco has turned to vaping to deliver more nicotine quicker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_abuse_in_ancient_Rom...
Also there’s absolutely no aspect of Rome that I would want to repeat
it was a bunch of pederasty, slavery and overall horrific conditions for almost everybody
First world office workers codependent on sweatshop slavery
...but conditions improved for majority
1 of 3 we did better than the Romans
Improving executive function is literally the point of prescription stimulants.
Rather than endless spirals about whether you should do ___, it just makes everything sound like a great idea to you...for better or for worse.
Cocaine has the same effect, only amplified.
They've always had recreational or even ritual use, and the health fads against stimulants and cleansing crazes usually come from the work-obsessed than anyone else. So I don't think that we run on stimulants, I'm pretty sure we'd do them regardless.
And trauma, of course.
...
> All of this adds up to one thing: a form of hyper-capitalist imperialism
Does this just not happen, then, in communist Vietnam or Laos?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_drugs
But, but! Isn't coffee consumption supposed to provide health benefits too? Like "reduced risks of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver conditions, and overall mortality".
Seems odd to lump coffee into the same bucket with energy drinks.