19 “Untitled” by Kaitlyn Lane

You’ve seen people affected by drug or alcohol addiction, right? How their entire life is centered around getting their next fix, and the judgment that envelopes them because of their addiction. That kind of addiction is stigmatized, given a bad name because it’s not what society calls ‘pretty.’ But what about the other categories of addiction; gambling, shopping, internet gaming all have their ‘good’ and ‘bad’ stigmas, but what about caffeine? Caffeine has achieved something none of the other addictions have, social acceptance, even celebration.

But no one has acknowledged the negative impact of caffeine. It’s been turned into an aesthetic for the next generation to have a caffeine addiction, it’s become a personality trait. And when caffeine withdraw begins, the effects on someone’s body and mind will surprise you.

Dylan grew up around caffeine, his mom drank coffee almost all day and his dad was never caught without a can of pop in his hand. And Dylan thought this was normal. For some parents, they chose alcohol to have at the end of a long day, for his parents it was coffee and Coke. Eventually, he picked up on their habits, coffee in the morning before lifting weights and basketball practice, Coke or an energy drink after school before practice. Dylan got to the point where he needed two or three caffeinated drinks to get through the day.

He would experience headaches and irritability, lashing out at his friends and getting into fights with his parents easily, almost too easily, if no one had anything caffeinated to drink that day. It got to the point where Dylan and his parents would talk until late in the evening when everyone was fully caffeinated and not irritable. Dylan didn’t recognize this was a problem until he started hanging out with Alex, whose family didn’t drink caffeine.

Alex’s family wasn’t weird, they didn’t avoid caffeine because they were health-crazed people but because her parents had gone through the same cycle of addiction with their parents, and they didn’t want her to become the same way. Dylan saw how normal it was for Alex and her parents to talk and not argue regularly. He experienced a clean car, one without bottles and cans of Coke rolling around on the floor. He saw how much energy Alex had on her own, without relying on external help.

Dylan finally realized that caffeine impacted the way his family interacted with each other. He knew when to avoid his parents and learned the signs of each person going through withdrawal. He could recognize when they’d had enough to bring them back to their ‘regular’ or caffeinated self.

Dylan started to wonder what his life would be like had he grown up like Alex, without watching his parents rely on caffeine and picking up on their habit too. If he could have avoided the headaches and fights, the sluggishness and irritability, would he have been a different kid? Dylan never considered caffeine a drug, or himself an addict, but he’s starting to realize that is not the case.