How can anyone who has tried it remotely believe this nonsense?
As someone that is a heavy longtime user and recently diagnosed ADHD (there is a deep relationship between cannabis/substances and ADHD), I did find during the pandemic that smoking cannabis prior to writing software made it feel more productive. Given I couldn't prove that I was really more productive, and there are other costs, I decided against using it at least for my full time job. This is all to say, YMMV with cannabis or any psychoactive substance.
Not something I do often (or even occasionally), but I definitely don't think it's nonsense.
Thinking "this drug makes me useless hence it should make the rest of the world also useless and any claims to the contrary are nonsense" it not only a blatant abuse of incomplete induction, but also kinda rude as it can make some people feel othered out just because of how their brain chemistry works.
Sometimes I get lost in the programming equivalent of throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. After some time with no progress in figuring out what sticks, it’s time to step away from that approach.
I don't smoke daily. I use it as a tool because I found it helps me when I am semi-manic and just trying to get something to work. I step away from the keyboard and spend time thinking about how to architect my code so that it is easier to write and understand. I'm sure other people do that without smoking, but it's been a big help for me to do that more often.
Contrary to the notion that you can think about great ideas and brainstorming - it’s amazing when you’re high. Write down those ideas and think about them when sober - I quickly realized how foolish they were.
Concentration and programming is so far from my experience (and others that I know), I absolutely cannot believe this study. Couldn’t even stay motivated to go take a shower. There has to be a study that matches my experience. What’s going on?
I hear people talk about it like it's a miracle drug for pain management, but for me it makes pain worse. I spend the entire time focused on every pain in my body.
I knew a guy who concentrated on problems and coded better when he was stoned. Another who was an amazing chess player and had to smoke before he could play. Others who mixed records and played music while high and it enhanced their abilities. I tried to DJ techno once while high and it was a horrible trainwreck, and I can't focus more than 30 seconds at a time. I wrote a paper in university while high and it was the worst crap I ever wrote. Others swear by it.
Many of my friends were super social and enjoyed going out and doing things. It always made me paranoid, overly self-critical, and I spent the whole time taking myself apart and feeling sad.
So I didn't smoke it for almost 20 years. I tried it again recently now that it's legal here. Basically the same experience, even with "low THC, high CBD" strains.
It really comes down to YMMV. And yes, I saw many people with the same experience as you, including a close relative. Unproductive, unmotivated, and low concentration, and chronic.
But I also never really stopped smoking and learned to use it to cope with a multitude of things like migraines and sleeplessness.
In the end it often comes down to the person and their reactions to a substance more than the substance itself. I can smoke and melt on the couch or I can smoke and go for a long walk and decompress.
What do you not believe about the study? Did you read the study?
> In this paper, we presented results of the first empirical study of cannabis’s prevalence, perceptions, and usage motivations in programming environments
I don't think this study says "weed makes you better" or anything like that.
In my (speculative) opinion, it's not "societal pressure" but rather "capitalism pressure" narrating the recent weed uprise. As in, the opportunity to capitalize on weed has been pushing the narrative that it's a harmless cool drug.
The risks of heavy cannabis use are well documented and easily available to those who care to research it. For example, try CTRL+F "cannabis" on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia.
Once again, just like alcohol and tobacco, capitalism wins over public health.
Others who are not as thrilled with consuming food and media to begin with will have different cannabis experiences. You'll probably find them exercising, making art/music, or creating software like mentioned in the article.
I'm sorry if this offends you, but your statement might say more about you as a person than about the effects of cannabis.
I'd be skeptical of a programmer who claimed cannabis made them more productive, especially at high doses, but if I could see that their work were consistent and good, I might believe them.
Tricky memory stuff, trying to deal with complex order of operations (threads, race conditions, etc) tends to go way better sober.
House keeping like light refactors (im in rust these days so stuff like: oh that should be a result not an option, or using matches instead of ifs, genericize this struct), boiler plate stuff and cleaning up logs/error handling tends to go better when I'm high.
But there are exceptions to both trends and I've done good deep work high and done plenty of good housekeeping sober. And of course since it's coding, i've (re)done plenty of bad work in both states too.
Sad to know my experience is just nonsense. I guess I need to get in touch with the CFO and let him know the profit from the product I wrote is just a pipe dream.
It’s pretty well known that marijuana helps to boost creativity; just look at all the music (and media in general) that’s been created by musicians high on pot.
Arguably, it’s effects have not been studied as well as regular drugs so perhaps that’s needed to make more objective statements about its effects.
Also going to add that the time-dilation effect of marijuana will definitely make you feel less productive but you will realize only 1/3 of the time you thought passed has passed. I'm sure this might play into some of the findings.
I have absolutely had profoundly productive days while using THC. It's not black and white. Like any tool, it needs to be used responsibly.