Students’ schedules are full of classes, studying, clubs, sports, sleep, and not enough time. This is a problem that many college students run into as they go through school. They sign up for all of their classes, along with academic and social clubs as well as sports, and end up finding no time to focus on the studying their classes require. Overscheduling is what leads some college students to start taking cognitive enhancers or what they call “Smart Pills.” Cognitive enhancers are drugs such as Adderall, Ritalin and Provigil and they are believed to improve one’s cognition, which is the ability to learn and understand information. Some college students use these drugs to stay awake longer and continue to focus, allowing them to complete
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Margaret Talbot shares peoples’ experiences with Adderall to show her position on the issue. She shares the story of a college student, Alex, and his experience with Adderall. Alex had several term papers he needed to write, go to classes, attend meetings and didn’t know how to get it all done, so he took an “immediate release” Adderall. After taking the Adderall, he was able to focus while in class and during his meeting then stay up all night writing his paper (Talbot par. 3). Adderall works in a way that allows students to focus on their work and get it done. People have come to accept the idea that taking these cognitive enhancers is not cheating because the student still has to complete the work and have the desire to do the assignments. Alex says, “It only works as a cognitive enhancer insofar as you are dedicated to accomplishing the task at hand” (Talbot par. 11). Talbot shares another perspective of cognitive enhancers through Martha Farah’s experience. Martha Farah is a psychologist who wrote a paper on evidence from different laboratory studies that studied the effects cognitive enhancers had on healthy people (Talbot par. 40). Learning, working memory and cognitive control were what the studies focused on and they found that overall people’s cognitions were improved after taking the pills. These pills work as …show more content…
People also take them for more reasons than staying awake and focused. Nicholas Seltzer, a man Talbot talked to and wrote about is “transhumanist” and he takes a drug called piracetam. A transhumanist is a person who is interested in living a really long time and believes there is a way to overcome biological limitations (Talbot par. 55). Seltzer is an example of a person who takes cognitive enhancers so he can live for a longer time and possibly outlive biological limitations. People believe that by taking these cognitive enhancers that they can keep their mind young and healthy for longer (Talbot par. 54). Seltzer doesn’t believe that there is anything wrong with taking these drugs because unless you are taking a licensing exam to become a neurosurgeon (Talbot par. 58), stating “we should have a fair degree of liberty to do with our bodies and our minds as we see fit, so long as it doesn’t impinge on the basic rights, liberty, and safety of others” (Talbot par. 58). Many people have the same point of view as Seltzer, and this is a reason why many people believe it is not considered cheating. They don’t believe that they are harming anyone or themselves by taking the cognitive enhancers. They truly believe they are improving themselves and their
Margaret Talbot shares peoples’ experiences with Adderall to show her position on the issue. She shares the story of a college student, Alex, and his experience with Adderall. Alex had several term papers he needed to write, go to classes, attend meetings and didn’t know how to get it all done, so he took an “immediate release” Adderall. After taking the Adderall, he was able to focus while in class and during his meeting then stay up all night writing his paper (Talbot par. 3). Adderall works in a way that allows students to focus on their work and get it done. People have come to accept the idea that taking these cognitive enhancers is not cheating because the student still has to complete the work and have the desire to do the assignments. Alex says, “It only works as a cognitive enhancer insofar as you are dedicated to accomplishing the task at hand” (Talbot par. 11). Talbot shares another perspective of cognitive enhancers through Martha Farah’s experience. Martha Farah is a psychologist who wrote a paper on evidence from different laboratory studies that studied the effects cognitive enhancers had on healthy people (Talbot par. 40). Learning, working memory and cognitive control were what the studies focused on and they found that overall people’s cognitions were improved after taking the pills. These pills work as …show more content…
People also take them for more reasons than staying awake and focused. Nicholas Seltzer, a man Talbot talked to and wrote about is “transhumanist” and he takes a drug called piracetam. A transhumanist is a person who is interested in living a really long time and believes there is a way to overcome biological limitations (Talbot par. 55). Seltzer is an example of a person who takes cognitive enhancers so he can live for a longer time and possibly outlive biological limitations. People believe that by taking these cognitive enhancers that they can keep their mind young and healthy for longer (Talbot par. 54). Seltzer doesn’t believe that there is anything wrong with taking these drugs because unless you are taking a licensing exam to become a neurosurgeon (Talbot par. 58), stating “we should have a fair degree of liberty to do with our bodies and our minds as we see fit, so long as it doesn’t impinge on the basic rights, liberty, and safety of others” (Talbot par. 58). Many people have the same point of view as Seltzer, and this is a reason why many people believe it is not considered cheating. They don’t believe that they are harming anyone or themselves by taking the cognitive enhancers. They truly believe they are improving themselves and their