Why Energy and High-Caffeine Drinks Are Hot With Kids

The Venue Difference

The Starbucks or other coffee shop drinks have a different impact — both positive and negative — for teens than hardcore energy drinks like Red Bull and it’s like. The reason is that Starbucks doesn’t just provide an alternative drink. It provides a venue to go with this drink.

The thing to remember is that teens and pre-teens are in the process of separating from their parents and families, and individuating into their own adults. Hanging out with peers instead of with family is normal and even a healthy step in this maturation process. The bad news is that parents who love control, lose it at this time when their children would rather be with peers than with them. Because pre-teens can’t drive, they’re limited to finding private places (without parents around) to hang out. After school, they hang out around the schoolyard or local parks. They’re easily found at malls. And now, coffee shops are the new corner candy store! Here are the reasons:

* Coffee shops are a legal place for teens to hang out and imbibe. There are no laws that keep teens from drinking coffee, coffee drinks or muffins, the staple of coffee shops. This isn’t like teens hanging out at bars, where they’re not of age to do so.

* Coffee shops are less like malls because they are smaller and more contained. It’s easier to keep track of teens and for teens to keep track of each other. In malls, you never know where the kids are, who they’re running off with, or if they lose each other on different floors, or in different stores.

* Coffee shops sell sugary drinks. that are less caffeine and more milkshake. In fact, it’s almost difficult to get a pure caffeine drink at many of them these days. Whipped, ice-blended, juice drinks are al the norm.

* The bad news is that many coffee shops substitute for the school cafeteria, and teenage girls, prone to eating disorders or just trying to be thin, will drink caffeine drinks at these shops, in lieu of eating “real food” because caffeine can be an appetite suppressant, and the pre-teens know this and exploit it at the expense of their health.

Energy Drinks are not really new.

Teens entering adulthood are juggling work and social lives for the first time, and they make mistakes, or they take on too much and choose to compensate for the lack of sleep. Adults have the same problems — they make mistakes and take on too much or have emergencies where they have to take on too much and compensate for lack of sleep with energy boosters.

Historically the energy boosters have been:

No-doze

Caffeinated sodas like Jolt

Coffee is a long-time standard

Illegal drugs like speed, benzedrine and other drugs

Cold remedies that could be bought over the counter that contain ephedrine, like Sudafed, taken for purposes other than colds — like to stay awake.

New energy boosters are:

Health food substances like guarana and ginseng

Caffeinated drinks with names like Red Bull

Coffee drinks like iced blendeds exotically named espresso shot drinks like Macchiato

Illegal drugs like speed still exist and come in new “designer” forms

The good and the bad news is that these drugs, substances and beverages are not going away. They’re part of our culture and part of history. The interesting news is that they’re being marketed to younger people, like teens, who now have more on their plates than they used to. Over-scheduled and pressured to perform academically, socially and extra-curriculally, teens have more reasons to stay awake, and the business world has found ways to make money off the of the teens needs. These drinks are those products.