Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance and remains deeply embedded within modern society. Beyond its conventional dietary role, caffeine has increasingly emerged as a major agent in the expanding field of lifestyle pharmacology, where the active substances are used not for the treatment of disease but to enhance cognition, mood, productivity, and social functioning. The growing dependence on caffeine among students reflects broader societal pressures linked to academic competition, sleep restriction, productivity culture, and the normalization of pharmacological cognitive enhancement. This narrative review aims to examine the neuropharmacological mechanisms, cognitive effects, social dimensions, public health implications, and ethical controversies surrounding caffeine use, particularly among university students and young adults. Literature was reviewed to synthesize current evidence regarding caffeine’s mechanism of action, behavioral effects, and long-term consequences. Caffeine primarily acts through competitive antagonism of Adenosine A₁ and A_2A receptors, thereby reducing inhibitory sleep signaling and indirectly enhancing dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurotransmission, leading to alertness, vigilance, concentration, reaction time, mood, and certain aspects of memory consolidation, particularly under conditions of fatigue and sleep deprivation. Despite these benefits, chronic caffeine consumption is associated with tolerance, adenosine receptor upregulation, physiological dependence, withdrawal syndrome, sleep disruption, anxiety, cardiovascular stimulation, and impaired recovery from cognitive fatigue. The review explores the increasing popularity of energy drinks among adolescents and university students, the influence of aggressive stimulant marketing, and the ethical concerns surrounding caffeine as a socially accepted form of cognitive enhancement or “academic doping”. Although moderate caffeine intake remains relatively safe for most healthy adults, the increasing normalization of excessive caffeine use among students and young professionals raises important neuro-ethical and public health concerns. Greater awareness regarding safe caffeine practices and informed stimulant use is necessary within academic institutions and society.