When was the last time you remembered answering the question, “How do you feel?” with “Energized!”
I bet the majority of people have never even answered that question with any answer other than “exhausted,” “burnt out,” or even just a sarcastic scoff, because let’s be honest, we all know the answer we’re going to get when asking each other that question. If we’re being real, being tired has become a personality trait.
If you haven’t noticed, a variety of caffeine products has turned into a necessity for high school students. Freshman year, it starts with a Starbucks refresher, then as sophomores an iced coffee, but eventually students are forced, and encouraged, to level up to 200mg of caffeine from a Celsius and even 300mg of caffeine from a Reign. By the looks of these radioactive drinks, drinking them may make you glow in the dark…
The interesting part? There’s a can on almost every desk, and no one thinks twice.
You may have realized that Starbucks is becoming more popular among teenagers than it should be. If you didn’t know, over half of the drinks on the Starbucks menu contain caffeine.
That tells us that kids are becoming hooked on caffeine without even realizing it.
On top of that, influencers with a large teenage fanbase are advertising these energy drinks to their viewers, and these die-hard fans are definitely going to buy into it. Is being burnt out becoming a trend throughout social media, too?
Why is it that drinking an unhealthy amount of caffeine is becoming “the key way to function”? I can’t blame these caffeine drinkers, as I, too, am stuck in this cycle. Most high schoolers have extracurricular activities until late at night, leaving them doing homework practically past 12 a.m. Then they wake up and feel exhausted. Sounds fun, right?
May I add that you are truly lucky if you park in the LFHS senior lot or get dropped off in front of the school, because the students walking from the train station would probably do anything for those extra 15 minutes of sleep.
It’s ironic that as kids we used to brag about staying up late, trying to sound cool, but now going to bed at 9:30 could quite literally be something to brag about. This happened to me recently, as people were in disbelief and looked at me like I was lying.
Sometimes I ask myself: Why did I ever ask my parents to stop making me have naps? Because can we please make them mandatory again?
I would never call caffeine bad or unhelpful, because I, too, know that it can truly get you through that first period class. But it’s worth talking about the fact that some high schoolers claim they can’t get through a day without it.
So if you haven’t looked around the classroom yet and recognized the amount of energy drinks sitting on desks, now you will. I bet we all think that being tired shouldn’t be a personality trait and that we need to do something about it.
In the meantime, I’ll see you in the Starbucks line, waiting for my coffee, because at the moment, it feels like the only thing that can get me through the first period.
