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from the better-living-through-chemistry dept.
The NYT reports that drugs like Adderall were once only prescribed to help children with attention deficit disorders focus on their school work but then college students found those drugs could increase their ability to study. Now a growing number of workers use them to help compete. What will happen as these drugs are more widely used in the workplace? According to Anjan Chatterjee, the use of neurotechnologies to enhance healthy people’s brain function could easily become widespread. "If anything, we worship workplace productivity by any means. Americans work longer hours and take fewer vacations than most others in the developed world. Why not add drugs to energize, focus and limit that annoying waste of time — sleep?" Julian Savulescu says that what defines human beings is their extraordinary cognitive power and their ability to enhance that power through reading, writing, computing and now smart drugs. "Eighty-five percent of Americans use caffeine. Nicotine and sugar are also cognitive enhancers," says Savulescu.
But cognitive neurologist Martha Farah, says that regular use on the job is an invitation to dependence. "I also worry about the effect of drug-fueled productivity on people other than the users," says Farah. "It is not hard to imagine a supervisor telling employees that this is the standard they should aspire to in their work, however they manage to do it (hint, hint). The eventual result will be a ratcheting up of “normal” productivity, where everyone uses (and the early adopters’ advantage is only fleeting)."
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday April 21 2015, @09:50PM
I've fooled around with energy drinks ranging from going caffeine free (not even tea!) to gulping down one or two energy drinks per day and I've found long term that a moderate level of consumption (daily tea habit plus a little more sometimes, more or less) reaches a local maxima of feeling good, however, I never saw any actual net overall system wide performance gains, measurable or anecdotal.
I could see, cult like, adderall being pushed on drones so they feel they're doing something as per the advice of highly paid consultants but nothing actually getting done. I'm sure taking a placebo pill would have about the same effect of feeling heroic and being a good little follower.
I think part of the lack of performance gains is I do more with caffeine or think faster but not necessarily about what I'm supposed to. Also it makes me grouchy which another net negative. I'm sure a simplistic psych class analysis shows I'm jumpier or type faster, but going beyond a lame undergrad psych study, I don't think I'm accomplishing anything more.
So if I was doing something I wanted to do, I donno, a standardized test, I might write or think slightly faster after two or three energy drinks, but in daily life and work it mostly makes me rapidly do distracting stuff.
Also anecdotally caffeine energy drinks makes me pee more (a well known medical fact of little debate) and it makes me take a dump (I have not done a medical research review on this) so I'm not sure it does much for my productivity once you subtract out the bathroom breaks and the inevitable crash hours later.
Finally anecdote time is nobody younger than genx at my workplace drinks coffee and most genx don't drink coffee, and nobody older than genx drinks energy drinks and not so much genx either. I have never been to SV but I would predict the average ageism based SV tech startup probably doesn't own a coffee pot if they have HR filter out all hires older than 25. If you're every bored and looking for a good time look around at work and try to find a gray/white hair with an energy drink or someone with piercings/tats drinking coffee. Its a fun game. You'll find some, just not many. Us tea drinkers are a little unusual this side of the pond, I've had people ask me what the hell I'm doing with with those weird dried up leaves and that weird coffee cup, because they've apparently never seen, even on TV or in movies, someone brew real tea.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Tuesday April 21 2015, @11:21PM
To contribute my own anecdote, I'm the youngest on our QA team at 31, and I drink mostly coffee/tea (but mostly coffee) with a Red Bull maybe once every week or two if I'm really dragging. I don't think it improves my performance, but it certainly makes me feel less like shit.
The woman in her late 30s drinks exclusively coffee/tea.
The guy in his late 40s drinks a single cup of Starbucks (though he promises me he only drinks Starbucks for the scenery over there).
The guy in his early 40s drinks 8 diet mountain dews a day.
On the topic of general health, the one in her late thirties and the guy in his late forties are probably healthier than most early 20-somethings, and the guy who drinks mountain dew all day wears a coat in summer because he's somehow still cold. We often try to figure out how he's actually still alive.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!