Coffee Conscious

If I were ever asked (though I don’t see why I ever would be) to write a book about coffee, I could. I could write a book about all aspects of coffee, and not just the product but the people who are involved with it. I have worked in a locally owned and operated coffee shop, in my hometown, since I was 15. I know how to do latte art. I’ve taken quizzes about types of coffee beans. I have seen all types of costumers, all on various stages of their love affair with coffee. Essentially, I know a fairly decent amount about coffee and I have seen my fair share of truly addicted coffee drinkers. I’m not talking about the social, I-need-coffee-in-the-morning drinker; I mean addicted, like the I-have-a-32oz-coffee-before-I-have-another-24oz-coffee-before-7am drinker. The type of person you worry about.

That being said, the other day in the HUB, I overheard a boy solemnly talking about his addiction to alcohol, to which the girl next to him responded, “I’m addicted to coffee.”

What? Those two are not the same. So I decided to research why we, as members of a society, love to claim addiction to coffee.

I found that part of it stems from the fact that coffee is a reward, a reinforcement, and a ritual, all in one. We become attached to the feelings that consumption brings and the ritualism of brewing/ordering. Drinkers of coffee become part of a culture. Society paints coffee drinkers as more creative, more involved and like many drugs, caffeine relies on social interaction.

Essentially, it is the concept of coffee that many people like and thus become addicted to. I am not trying to say that coffee and caffeine are not drugs. They are. They are addictive stimulants, at that. You can become addicted to coffee. People do all the time. But psychologically speaking, in our culture today we love to claim a caffeine addiction, though we never really, truly have one.

My qualm, I guess, is that I don’t get it. I love the taste of coffee. I drink it often. But I don’t think I could ever state that I am addicted to coffee in the same way someone is an alcoholic, or as someone is addicted to heroin. I think in a bizarre way, we lessen the severity of addiction each time we claim an addiction to coffee when we never truly have one – and though psychologically speaking it makes sense, I think we should all just stop it. 

Rainy Reactions

The weather lately hates me, or at the very least, I hate the weather lately. Recently, as I walk to my morning classes the weather outside is drastically different to the weather that appears when I reemerge from class. If it’s raining, I’m unprepared. If it’s sunny, I’m overly dressed. If it’s snowing, I’m not wearing enough layers. Essentially, I can never win.

This sentiment followed me into the HUB one particularly rainy day – and I say “rainy” lightly as it was more of a “snowy-rainy-wishing-it-were-summer-tomorrow” kind of day. It was one of those days that was gloomy and the moods of the masses equated to that. The cluster of students sitting next to me were discussing their hate for the weather. Well, all of them except one boy who firmly stated that he loved this kind of messy precipitation. There’s always one.

As the conversation progressed, one girl made the blanket statement that when the weather is like this, she is always sadder. This idea, I’ve heard and agreed with before. I have since discovered there is a psychological reason for the depression one feels in the messy weather days.

Scientifically speaking, the pineal gland lies behind your eye and releases serotonin when stimulated by sunlight. Thus when there is less sunlight, there is less serotonin released.

Psychologically speaking, humans are innately sympathetic to the environment. Our depressed emotions are due to association with the weather and allowing it to cause sadness. Gloomy weather by no means can cause true depression.

Yet, the weather outside plays a crucial role in how one feels. The outlook we have is directly proportional to one’s view of the world. A sunny day attributes to happiness and a rainy day acts as a focal point for sadness. 

Absurdity and Authority

I have often said the words “I hate people.”

I’ll admit that I don’t actually hate mankind, but when I frequently hear people say and do dumb things, it has become my knee-jerk response.

When unintelligent utterances come about, I often wonder if someone could really be that clueless and I rationalize it by disliking the masses. Yet maybe there is some sort of social psychology at work behind absurdity.

I challenged this ideal greatly a few days ago, when sitting in the HUB. I was positioned with my laptop, doing work in between my classes, where at the end of the table sat four girls. They were talking rapidly and when the one girl got up to leave, she uttered one of the most ill conceived sentences I have ever heard:

“I think I’m going to take the Blue Loop to the White Building.”

I froze (keep in mind we were at the HUB, which is about a 30 second walk to the White Building.) I sat wide-eyed at what I just heard and waited for her friends to verbally attack the comment. I didn’t have to wait long. Her friends laughed endlessly and pointed out the flaws in her comment. The girl then giggled and shrugged it off. This definitely happened a lot. She pretended that she didn’t realize her own idiocy, and when she left her friends went on to talk about how she says things of this nature often.

All people have inherited intellect and because of this I remain unconvinced of this girl’s actual lack of knowledge. True, we all have slips in common sense, but I dissected her thought process enough to realize she thought far enough ahead to contemplate taking the bus. She obviously thought about her next location. She had to have known. From this, I believe she was acting a part; she was playing a role.

So why do people “dumb themselves down?” To me, playing dumb makes you inferior; it in turn gives the others in conversation the upper hand, as they believe to have more knowledge than you. What’s the benefit?

Studies suggest that woman often act dumber when with their spouse to reflect on society’s ideal that, at least on certain issues, the husband’s superiority should not be tested. With that, studies also show that men tend to dumb themselves down more often than women in social situations. Men tend to “play dumb” in situations with co-workers and bosses.

This tactic can alternatively be done as a defense mechanism. Often people will avoid showing their intelligence in situations of highly structured and competition stature, where mid-level personal are motivated to avoid annoying others in order to improve their future there. It is also suggested that people will dumb themselves down to avoid responsibility.

I question, is it easier to remain the simple-minded one than challenge the minds of others?
If we position ourselves as dimwitted, do we in turn lessen our responsibility?

With this in mind, maybe “being dumb” is a lot less dumb than we think.

Elderly Insight

Never one to be the tallest in the room, when I wait in lines, I have gotten used to being surrounded by taller people. I’ve gotten well acquainted with the reactionary motion of looking up when someone speaks to me. It’s all very typical.

Yet, on one particularly grey afternoon in the HUB, I found myself waiting in line with, quite possibly, some of Penn State’s tallest students. I stood, in the midst of tall boys who obviously worked out a great deal and overheard a wonderful snippet of their conversation. The dialogue went as followed (sans a few upbeat profane words):

Guy 1: Dude, I love your new beard.

Guy 2: Thanks. You need to grow some scruff!

Guy 1: I can’t! I’ll look too old.

Guy 2: Word, bro. I’ve been trying to look younger lately.

Okay, I stood amongst these gentlemen for about 7 minutes – enough time to properly estimate their age, as tall as they may be, at about 21. This made me think, since when is 21 old? When did college become the precursor to the retirement home? Why, as a society, are we so obsessed with growing older?

In the September 1994 issue of Psychology Today, this very mindset was discussed. The article, entitled Learning to Love Growing Old, by Jere Daniel, noted that, though we are psychologically unaware, aging “ultimately robs our life of any meaning.”

Essentially, we are unprepared to age, unprepared to face the challenges and costs that aging causes. Society today is preoccupied with being younger - hence we have the epidemic that is plastic surgery. We want to ignore aging, as much as possible. We want to put off the inevitable.

In today’s world, 21 year olds may be putting off their birthdays because they want to cling to their youth. The job market is rough and once one enters it, his/her youth slowly slips away.

Thus, even though it struck me as odd that students are worrying about how they appear, it makes perfect sense. Looking young is related to feeling young – and feeling young is a fleeting joy in the fast pace society in which we live.