Dead right. If one doesn’t acknowledge that there ARE benefits from smoking, he’ll never understand the nature of the problem. These days, to be a smoker, you have to really want to smoke. With the insanely high taxes, the social stigma, and the legal restrictions on where you can smoke, added to the negative health impact, you have to really work at it to be a smoker. There’s got to be something there other than just “being cool”. And as an ex-smoker, I can tell you that there most certainly is.
Error Error Does Not Compute
Smoking is dumb. And anyone who chooses to smoke with the knowledge of what it does to themselves is dumb. Dumb and unimaginative if the only way they can think to manage things like stress and lack of mental acuity is through smoking.
PS: With the rules regarding smoking in public places, pretty much the only person you can hurt by smoking is yourself. So light up if you want but you’re the one increasing their risk of cancer and lung disease. I’ll be fine and smokefree.
I’m racking my brain trying to come up with an example of a smart, highly accomplished smoker to refute your claim. Maybe someone in a position of leadership. There must be a few…it’ll come to me in a minute.
Einstein?
Could someone help me out here, what are the benefits of smoking? increased mental acuity? stress control?
…what?! :dubious:
Oh, you mean indulging in nicotine relieves stress and increases mental acuity - that is, once you’ve become addicted. I get it now.:rolleyes:
President Obama smokes.
I don’t know how much ‘rebellion’ has to do with it for every young person. When I was a teen and still living at home (I moved out age 18), I hated getting in trouble with my parents and though I did things they didn’t or wouldn’t have liked, I went to great lengths to hide everything that would get me in trouble from them. And I never drank or did drugs in high school, although I did smoke cigarettes for about a year age 15/16 - because I liked the taste, and the buzz I got from it. My parents never knew.
Right after I moved out of my parent’s house and was totally in charge of my own life (had my own apartment, worked, no financial help from them) I got into all the normal party activities - drank a lot before I was 21, smoked tons of pot, and smoked cigarettes. All because I wanted to do so, had a lot of friends who did it also, and I enjoyed all three (the high, the ritual, the taste, and it gave me something to occupy my hands/mouth/time. Also I worked in a diner and smoke breaks were the best part of my day). I’m not cut out to be a partier though, and the buzz isn’t all that great for me, so I was done doing all that by age 21 or 22. Then I became really health-conscious and now I avoid even secondhand smoke.
I don’t think people who do things that we all know has a negative impact on your health and longevity (smokers, heavy drinkers, drug abusers, people who eat very badly whether it’s garden-variety overeating of junky food or eating disorders, those who don’t get any exercise at all) are ‘dumb’. A lot (a large majority, I would say) of people don’t value their longterm health over their day-to-day life - I do, but there are very few people who would be willing to take it to the extremes I do these days. I don’t have a single unhealthy habit, 99% of what I put in my mouth is nutrient-rich ‘whole food’, I take time to do several forms of exercise every day, my muscle tone and athletic abilities are a very high priority to me… I like my lifestyle, I honestly have tons of fun tracking my micronutrient intake and setting new goals for how many pull-ups I can do in a row. But most people I know would be miserable if they tried to live like me. Most people I know really enjoy smoking, drinking heavily, eating large amounts of sugar, and sitting around watching tv instead of lifting weights, so much that ‘it’s bad for you!’ isn’t enough to behave differently.
Maybe its just where I live in Ontario, but what social stigma are you refering to. The majority of it that I have seen, is actually in print and mainly on the dope. If anything, the attitudes of non smokers seem to be more relaxed.
Declan
Compass point? Why would that specific item come to mind as an example of something to cut yourself with? I mean, it works, but it just seems oddly specific of a thing to mention. Is a compass the trendy thing to use for self-harm these days?
I think it’s just where you live.
Geometry is often a mandatory class for high school students. Compasses are required and usually issued by the school. If you are a kid, a school-issued compass is probably the most convenient way to cut yourself.
This is both true and overly simplistic. With a few exceptions, most smokers do start when they are dumb kids. I certainly did.
As an adult smoker, I acknowledge that smoking is dumb, but I persist. Am I dumb? No, I’m not. Am I wise? No, I’m not. But I also acknowledge that I’m in the grip of an extremely powerful drug addiction, that many different quitting methods have not been able to assail - as yet. I live in hope. Until I die of a smoking-related complication.
Smoking is dumb (coming from a smoker, albeit one planning on quitting, at least attempting) but people do dumb things all the time. Less people smoke then there are people that are unhealthy/eat horribly/overweight and heading for disease/death. Yeah the smoking bothers and can harm other people but no so much anymore because everywhere is banning it indoors. It’s one of the main drivers for me to try to quit as they are finally banning it here and I see no point anymore.
You know why at least some kids start smoking? If you’ve never had a cigarette or coughed and gave up you won’t know this. THEY MAKE YOU KINDA HIGH. At least at first. Then it goes away and you’re hooked then every once in awhile you won’t smoke for a day or two then you’ll have one and you feel it again and it’s awesome. And even this kid who was actually pretty responsible and mature in high school and smart still thought it was fun to feel a bit high…
Funny thing was, my parents smoked, and my brother and I absolutely HATED being around it growing up. And guess what? We are both smokers. And it took us awhile too. My friends smoked for a couple years before I even wanted to try, my brother didn’t start until he was even older. And all my smoker friends, only like one of them had smoking parents, so I don’t know how that all worked out, maybe she infected the rest 
But honestly smoking is something you can’t understand unless you’ve been a smoker. It’s stupid and gross and expensive and pointless but also it’s almost like a part of you, and awesome because it makes you feel good, and I so wish it didn’t stink and kill people because I don’t want to quit and be a nonsmoker. But I also don’t want long-term health issues so I know that I need to quit, and I am still young and now is the time to do it.
LOL. I’m not sure if it’s “trendy”, but it’s a sharp pointy thing capable of drawing blood that is often mentioned to parents as something to remove from the child’s room if they’re cutting. Maybe because we’re so likely to overlook it while we’re locking up the steak knives. Maybe because even kids with parents who don’t let them own pocketknives probably own a compass for school. Maybe it works particularly well for their purposes - causing scratches and pain with a small amount of bleeding but feeling “safer” than a knife. Couldn’t really tell you. I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around cutting for years, since it first popped up in my son’s peer group, and I’m still bewildered by it.
Stress relief.
Okay, lots of people are just guessing why. I am an actual young person (23) and knew very few people under 30 who smoke. But those that do fit into just a few categories:
- They are enamored with the past; they romanticize it to a fault and watch old movies. Many are in dying professions, like journalism.
- They genuinely are blind to its negative effects
- Their parents smoke (and don’t condemn it) or they were raised abroad, where there’s very little anti-smoking campaigning/literature/etc in schools.
I don’t buy that people do it to rebel. There’s little to rebel with when in the end it screws YOU over. Rebelling is more like staying out later and hanging out with people you’re not supposed to and drinking. That hurts your parents, not you, you’re enjoying it!
They also all universally have money problems. Who wouldn’t at $6/pack.
As another actual young person: most of the young people (under 30) I know, smoke. Very few of my close friends around my age do though.
We always called those ‘butthole lips’ because the radial wrinkles always reminded us of the way sphincters look like.
I’m 20 and the people I know who smoke probably just do it because they tried it as a teenager, got addicted and genuinely don’t care about the effects. I’m sure there are a few who think it’s “cool” but I don’t think that’s the main reason they started. Most of the people I know have had to stop or cut down anyway because it’s too expensive.
I have of course tried it (who hasn’t?) but was never a smoker - at 13 I watched someone slowly die from the effects, and no amount of anti-smoking ads could be a better deterrent than that.
It’s a quick and easy way to be seen as rebellious. Don’t have the time or the energy to do something actually subversive/interesting? Start smoking.
I’m also a young person. Yes, I am dammit! Don’t look at me like that! Come back here when I’m talking to you! Hey, don’t run away so fast! My knees are bothering me today; I can’t keep up! I said come back here!
Hmph. Well, at least they’re off my lawn.
Ok, maybe I’m not a young person any more, but I do know a lot of young people. And I can definitely that most of them do not smoke. Only the cool ones.
It’s true! And I’ve wondered about it since I actually was a young person desperately wanting to be cool. I don’t know why, but it seems like the kids in college who are smart and hip and creative are much more likely than average to smoke. I’d guess fewer of them smoke now than used to, but the correlation is still positive.
It baffles me that the kids who are most likely to question what they’ve been told, the most likely to be critical of big corporations and the influence of advertising and media, and the most likely to believe in healthy eating are also the most likely to smoke. I’m not just talking about the loony hippies who also believe that fluoridation is a plot by Halliburton (though they are probably even more likely to smoke) but genuinely smart young people who otherwise make good decisions.
It’s entirely possible that it’s just confirmation bias on my part. But I’d be very interested in seeing any kind of sociological or psychological (or even marketing) studies that might confirm or debunk this observation and possibly shed some light on it.
ETA: The correlation isn’t with being smart per se. That correlation is probably negative. But when you look at young people who are smart and hip and creative and politically aware, I think the correlation flips to positive.
ETA again: I strongly suspect that throwing “hip” in there is what leads to confirmation bias. But it sure seems to be true!