As he stumbles from his car into the school, he pops open his favorite of Monster. The cold drink meets his lips and his zombie-like state starts to disappear as the 150 mg of caffeine starts to flow through his veins. He knows it is bad for him, but he is addicted. And when he grabs his second Monster of the day on his way to work, he will continue the abuse to his body for the buzz the drink provides.
As Gen Z has crawled its way through just like the ones before it, the groups of people the generation has split into created many modernized addictions. Social media, vaping and drug abuse are all addictions the generation faces; however, one of the bigger, and potentially more dangerous ones that no one seems to mention is energy drinks.
With how many reports come out practically daily about how dangerous these drinks are, many teenagers of Gen Z understand the issue of these drinks but consistently drink them anyway. It has at this point become way too normal in many of these students’ lives.
“I drink enough energy drinks to know how much of an issue they are,” senior Sierra Mann said. “I know they’re not entirely good for me, but some days I just feel like I have a massive headache and need one to stop it. There are a lot of issues with this though. Too much intake of too many energy drinks can consistently cause liver issues, and heart issues for the body. With our generation I believe it could even be comparable to smoking 100%. It’s hard to stop drinking them though, as most people would agree.”
Every new generation has their own addictions; millennials especially had the major issue of smoking nicotine and cigarettes. Experts warn that energy drinks can lead to health problems. According to the CDC dangers of energy drink include dehydration, heart complications, anxiety and insomnia.
“I feel like it has a negative impact on our growth in society,” junior Jamesley St. Hubin said. “Some people in our generation will be going to bed at three in the morning just to wake back up at five and think an energy drink will get them through the day. If we’re talking about smoking back in the day, I can say in a slight way it is comparable. I mean people do take energy drinks as a sort of way to buzz out of it throughout the day. You can’t tell me the top three ingredients in an energy drink.”
These sorts of caffeine impacting drinks have just become so normal to have every day, that even the campus has begun to sell them with 70mg of caffeine in them. That amount of caffeine is comparable to drinks like Monster, Red Bull and Celsius. But because it’s so normal, not many students think it’s terrible. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that adolescents do not consume energy drinks at all.
“I don’t think they’re necessarily bad,” junior Gavin McKusker said. “I typically have one a day, but if I’m at work or having a long day, I’ll have two occasionally. Coffee is definitely healthier, but the people that will say people have issues with drinking energy drinks will be the same people who will have three or four coffees a day. I don’t think it’s a problem at all, as long as some kids can limit themselves to it, then it’s not a bad thing at all.”
If the main issue that is apparent is the amount of caffeine everyone is consuming, then does that make coffee an issue among this generation as well? Many people say it’s healthier, but what is preventing a teenager from drinking three coffees a day instead of Monsters because they think it’s better for them?
“I feel like they are two completely different things,” junior Journee Chevis said. “Y’know it’s not good for you either, but it’s more tolerable. You can tolerate that instead of an energy drink when they just throw so much stuff in there, and you don’t even know what’s in it. With coffee I don’t feel like there’s a problem with it, because I’ve been drinking it since I was a baby, like I’ve been drinking it my whole life after that. Too much caffeine isn’t good for you anyways, but it’s way less than energy drinks.”
Just because an addiction is normal to have doesn’t make it okay to have. Especially with how young this generation is, it makes it more dangerous than ever. Energy drink consumption has just become too high too quickly with today’s teenagers, and it needs to be realized yesterday.
“It’s just something that’s become normalized with us,” Mann said. “Many people would believe that they’re simply comparable to coffee, but the ingredients that are in it are just way worse. Especially for me, I can definitely tell some of this caffeine addiction scare has gotten to me. It’s a problem within our generation that isn’t being talked about nearly enough. It gets to a point when our school even begins selling them to the generation most endangered.”
