College students are addicts. As I sat down to write this column, I simultaneously checked Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook on my phone. I disgust me. Internet addiction is a very real problem for college students, and some people think they’ve found a solution.
Cue Adderall, Ritalin and Vyvanse. These were all initially prescribed for people diagnosed with ADHD but have made their debut on college campuses across the country as study drugs.
Can’t focus? Pop an Addy. Need to read 200 pages before a test tomorrow? Take 70 mg of Vyvanse.
This dependence on these drugs is not so different from the addictive traits shown by hard-core drug addicts. 
With a possible tobacco ban on LSU’s campus beginning fall 2014, these drugs may spike in use. Students won’t be able to walk outside the library for a smoke break during finals, so they might turn to these drugs to distract from other addictions while studying.
LSU faculty and administrators are taking notice, and the Honors College is set to have a seminar today on the correlation between anxiety and addiction and how to combat it. The seminar will address how drugs and nicotine can be used as an excuse to validate avoiding social               situations.
Anxiety gets the best of us in everyday life and especially five hours before a midterm. In the same way that these addictions soothe the social struggles of life, study drugs can be used to avoid the fear of failing                                 and procrastination.
The dishonest connotation that goes along with these drugs can be, in some opinions, outweighed by the fact that students feel more productive on these drugs and therefore justify taking them for the sake of school.
I’m starting to wonder what happened to good, old-fashioned studying.
But if you consider the types of tests students take for classes like biology, it’s not surprising they turn to outside stimulants. With such massive amounts of information and tedious names squeezed into two or three exams in one semester, last-minute cramming seems like the only solution for busy college students.
It seems innocent when you compare these little pills to other stimulants like coffee and energy drinks, but the way they work are more dramatic. Adderall targets the frontal cortex of the brain, stimulating dopamine and other chemical and hormone receptors in the brain.
When the brain gets used to a drug enhancing the effects of these bodily functions, it stops doing it on its own. Then you want more to keep yourself top notch, or, more accurately, in a drug-induced elation.
The discussion is still open about whether or not taking these drugs without having ADHD is harmful. Regardless of the answer, the fact remains that these drugs push your body beyond its normal functioning level and, yes, they can be addictive.
Comparing ADHD prescriptions to an Olympic athlete using steroids or a heroin addict looking for a fix is completely valid, but I do see how the use of these drugs changes the way people think. 
Reliance is a sign of addiction, and I guarantee nearly every student on campus has heard someone sigh in the library wishing for some Adderall. They’ll spend 30 minutes trying to find someone selling it so they can spend another hour or two going retrieve it. All while their books and laptop sit solemnly in their backpack, untouched.
It’s becoming second nature for students to rely on a pill instead of their own capacity to learn and understand. If that doesn’t scare you, it should.
Our attention spans are already drastically decreasing from our ancestors’. We have the Internet and 140-character limits to thank for that. But it’s up to us to train our brains to retain what little intelligence and self-motivation we have left.
 
Annette Sommers is an 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Dublin, Calif.