Young people vaping

[TheAverageJoanne]

Seriously, why even bother? I suspect peer pressure maybe but the attraction is lost on me. I'm travelling to work and I use a busy transport interchange with buses and trains and there are lots of young people going to college and maybe school. So many of them vaping.

They are doing something fairly stupid though, plus sucking on a strange plastic device does look a tad odd.

Because they’ve been sold that it’s cool, sadly, and many are highly susceptible to peer pressure/advertising. It’s really worrying. Suspect it will turn out as harmful as smoking in years to come.

Really? Blimey. I can't think of a friend who didn't smoke when we were teens, at least socially. It tailed off around uni age except for the ones who were addicted, but as far as I know everyone has stopped now we're in our 40s.

There are a lot of things I think look odd, I just try and not act judgemental.

I've told my teenager that they aren't safe and like I said he"d rather save his money.

They do smell nicer than cigarettes but I'm very aware they could be just as dangerous.

Yep, really. Most of us realised then how pointless it was, never mind addictive, costly and smelly. One girl in my year did try smoking a cigarette backwards, burning her lip in the process, so that may have put a few folk off.....joking aside, I've also seen how some folk struggle to give up, and it is an achievement to stop (and not re-start).

I try not to act judgmental either.
You do realise that you are being no less judgmental than me here though, right? It's a judgment that you think it's judgemental to say something stupid is stupid.

Now we could go around in circles with this 😁.

I kind of think they’re too chicken to smoke fags like we used to, such a Gen-Z ‘addiction’ 🤣

MartinChuzzlewit · Today 12:14

I kind of think they’re too chicken to smoke fags like we used to, such a Gen-Z ‘addiction’ 🤣”

Or maybe not quite as foolish.

Yet, still you continue.
(and I am sure another witty reply will ensue....crack on).

Family guy covered this topic.😉

Agreed. Never smoked as a teen or since. I certainly wasn't boring. But what's fun about smoking anyway?

Bless you, go on you can have the last word if it makes you feel better......

I don't think making vapes plain and black instead of say pink and green would realistically stop any of the young people using them.

I think the worrying thing about vapes is that kids can progress to full on nicotine addiction very quickly because it doesn’t have the other drawbacks of smoking…….many kids who used to experiment with smoking would end up quitting before they became addicted because of the unpleasant sensations, smell and taste, most kids understandably don’t want to end up smelling with bad breath and yellow teeth!!

Ps.I’m hoping they ban disposable vapes asap as it’s rapidly becoming a serious problem for kids to the extent that some kids can’t make it through a gcse exam or mock without suffering agitation!

It's a health and environmental disaster. I work with looked after children and all but 1 of 46 of them vape. Some are 11. Last week I informally did a survey and found that 12 of the 45 vapers sleep with their vape IN THEIR MOUTH and a further 14 have it UNDER THEIR PILLOW.
But when I raise it with social services and virtual schools I am glibly told it is better than smoking. Is it fuck.

@littlripper that is absolutely horrendous to hear, it’s kids with care backgrounds where you may already have good reason to be worried about their brain chemistry in the first place, never mind adding a serious nicotine addiction on top. I’m from a palliative care background so undoubtedly for some smokers ,vaping is a no brainier ,risk wise ,but I’ve often had people going back to smoking because they find they are continuously needing to be on their vapes. the health service is shooting itself in the foot trying to promote vaping to adult smokers above any other nicotine replacement products or smoking cessation programmes and only succeeding in making it super easy for kids to get hold of them.

Ultimately that's what addiction is.

The first time trying it would be peer pressure or wanting to try it - just like people want to try alcohol, sex, etc. Then it's an addiction and on top of that it's not one that's seen as 'bad' really.

I have vaped for nearly ten years - wish I didn't now but I'm addicted. I don't do it because I think I look cool or I'm being peer pressured. The plus side is that it did stop me smoking cigarettes and I haven't touched a cigarette again and never will. Don't have any health issues from vaping heavily every day for nearly 10 years either (yet anyway) so there's no real incentive to stop. Plus it's extremely hard to stop. It's like saying to a meth addict, "just stop doing meth" - it's really not that easy unless you're just a social smoker/vaper. On top of all this is that it's very easily accessible, I'd never smoke in my house because of the smell and ash but there's none of that with vaping. It doesn't make you smell bad. Mine doesn't produce a huge ball of vapour either so I can do it very discreetly. Very difficult unfortunately.

That all being said I do think there needs to be more in place to stop young people starting them for fun. Change of branding like they did with cigarettes would be a start.

We don’t know the long term effects of vapes.
I would also consider the potential long term damage to the endocrine system of introducing a sweet flavour into your mouth that isn’t food. It’s proven that your pancreas starts to produce insulin in response to the smell of food. Since insulin is the fat storage hormone could vapes cause weight gain?
I mean, at least I was skinny when I smoked 😜

Out of all my friends and their partners going back to when I was 16 only one friend smokes and that's only one after lunch and dinner and one friend's husband used to but he's packed in now.

You obviously hung around with good girls and boys which is a good thing.

Well congrats on being a sensible, well-behaved teenager. I wasn't, and I didn't hang out with any! (I would just like to add that we are all now very sensible middle-aged professionals...)

My grandson tells me that practically everyone starts vaping as soon as they're off school premises. Even he's shocked. 😡

Vaping is a health time bomb imo, and the govt should have been all over this from the word go. Sucking hot wet chemicals into young lungs is never going to end well and there have been cases of children suffering collapsed lungs from vaping. There are (allegedly) idiots who are letting their toddlers vape which I find extraordinarily irresponsible. And disposable vapes in 2023 where we are trying to be more sustainable should never have been allowed in the first place.