# Pacifiers for Teens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247 "2009-04-24T18:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gkendrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gkendrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkendrick)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/1 "2009-04-24T18:30:31Z")
What is it with the teens these days? Now and then downtown I see a teen (always a male, it seems) with a baby pacifier in his mouth. Is this some new fad, or is it an initiation trial of some sort? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/2 "2009-04-24T18:42:25Z")
Ecstasy. The drug causes tooth grinding and the pacifiers alleviate that problem. Some kids get hooked on the whole experience and report feeling lost without the pacifier, others are just signaling their membership in this happy little club. ---
**Author:** ![gkendrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gkendrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkendrick)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/3 "2009-04-24T18:58:36Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Ecstasy. The drug causes tooth grinding and the pacifiers alleviate that problem. > > Some kids get hooked on the whole experience and report feeling lost without the pacifier, others are just signaling their membership in this happy little club. That could explain the spaced-out look on the last guy I saw with one, sitting on the bus and listening to his iPod. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/4 "2009-04-24T19:15:46Z")
And while **Mr Moto** has given the explanation for how it started (one I had also heard), Iā€™ve seen magazines where itā€™s ā€œsomething that the cool kids doā€ with apparently no clue that it originated with Ecstasy use. Just to avoid a leap to conclusions (ā€œuse of pacifier = use of ecstsayā€), it may be the typical teen jump-on-the-bandwagon behavior as well. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/5 "2009-04-24T19:24:49Z")
Jesus Christ, youā€™ve got to be kidding! Iā€™d just tolerate the damn teeth grinding. I put the pacifier thing in the same stupidity category as pants hung below your ass. ---
**Author:** ![gkendrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gkendrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkendrick)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/6 "2009-04-24T19:28:43Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Jesus Christ, youā€™ve got to be kidding! Iā€™d just tolerate the damn teeth grinding. I put the pacifier thing in the same stupidity category as pants hung below your ass. Seems like the usual teen thing: annoy the adults.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/7 "2009-04-24T19:49:27Z")
I dontā€™ think itā€™s only Ecstasy, because I saw it with some teens as a fad in the 80s already. Neon-coloured pacifiers made from hard plastic (so no real sucking) in different sizes, worn on cords on the backpack or around the neck etc. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/8 "2009-04-24T19:52:44Z")
Thereā€™s also a candy that looks like a pacifier. One of my cousinā€™s friends liked them a lot. It doesnā€™t help that it fit her persona of acting a young child which actually seemed to help her pick up guys. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/9 "2009-04-24T20:06:07Z")
Has this become a trend AGAIN? Thatā€™d make the third time in my lifetime, and Iā€™m only 33. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/10 "2009-04-24T20:14:04Z")
No kidding ā€“ some of the characters were sucking on pacifiers in 1991ā€™s _Boyz in tha Hood_. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacifiers-for-teens/494247/11 "2009-04-24T21:11:42Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > I dontā€™ think itā€™s only Ecstasy, because I saw it with some teens as a fad in the 80s already. Neon-coloured pacifiers made from hard plastic (so no real sucking) in different sizes, worn on cords on the backpack or around the neck etc. The late 80s was THE time of xtc. I donā€™t think the current fad has anything to do with it, though.