Caffeine Buzzed

            What does America run on these days? Hard work? A good night’s rest? A healthy diet? No…according to Dunkin’ Donuts coffee chain, “America runs on Dunkin’.” It seems a bit absurd, doesn’t it, the idea that America relies solely on coffee to function? Just a silly jingle, right? Wrong.

In fact, this statement is closer to the truth than we think. Coffee is the world’s second most valuable commodity. “There are two dark, black liquids that run this country,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “Oil and coffee. Walk down the street in any major city at lunch hour. You just see coffee and cell phones.” According to historian David T. Courtwright, American per capita coffee consumption rose from three pounds per year in 1830 to eight pounds per year by 1859. Today, the National Coffee Association reports that the number of 18- to 39-year-olds who drink coffee daily jumped almost 10 percent year-over-year in 2011.

Oh, but America does not run on coffee alone. We now have hundreds of energy drinks to choose from, all offering the same caffeine buzz. Consider this. If someone proposed that we place an espresso bar in schools for students to use, everyone would think that person was insane. However, no one thinks twice about the Rockstars and the Monsters and the 5-Hour Energy drinks that even our youngest schoolchildren are consuming on a daily basis. The average American consumes about 300 mg of caffeine a day. Let’s face it. Caffeine is the miracle drug of our generation.

Companies have decided to take the caffeine buzz a step further. We now not only have coffee and energy drinks. We have caffeinated gum, caffeinated lip balm, caffeinated sunflower seeds, even caffeinated soap. According to a recent article in The Washington Post, “We don’t just drink vodka. We drink vodka mixed with the up-all-night energy drink Red Bull—because even our downers need uppers.”

I smell an addiction. What would happen to America if we took away all the caffeine? Would life be slower, sluggish even? How would people wake up in the morning? How would we keep going? What are the long-term effects of this caffeine craze?