To be genuinely dismayed at young people smoking / vaping

[Onand]

Walking to work in the mornings I’ve started to take a new route- I pass by several office buildings and lots of other businesses and I am shocked and concerned at how many young adults smoke or vape nowadays. I hadn’t paid much attention before but this new way is seemingly littered with young smokers.

I just can not fathom why they want to do it, what joy does it being them knowing how devastating it is for health and wellbeing? The horrid smell, the taste, the exorbitant cost, the risk, it’s just unbelievable when I see someone who has grown up with all the warnings and statistics yet is still choosing to do it, do we know why this is?

I've never smoked, but people have been doing it for hundreds of years, so there is clearly some attraction. And it is said to be addictive. And warnings are irrelevant, especially when we're young and old age/illness is just unimaginable. That's how it works when we're young - don't you remember, OP?

I live in a very busy part of London and it's extremely rare here to see anyone under the age of 30, actually smoking rather than vaping.

The only under 30s I see smoking cigarettes are normally Eastern European (outside my workplace) and even they tend to switch to vapes eventually.

It's horrible to you OP, but personally I loved smoking. I gave up 17 years ago because of the associated health risks (and because I wouldn't inflict second hand smoke on children) but I loved it in my teens and 20s - the smell, the taste, the deep, deep sense of relaxation... Nothing really compares to be honest. I fully understand why someone would take it up.

It's the new smoking. Why did I go down the school bushes and smoke ciggies at 15; thus setting of a decade long plus smoking habit.

I understand most vapes have nicotine in them. I know alot of teens think they're cool and then I guess the addiction sets in. It's everywhere, it's depressing.

The stupidity of youth.

Same!.

I'm an ex smoker. I loved smoking. Still love the smell (though not so much the after taste in my mouth/smelly breath, or smelly clothes!). Still miss it!

I started smoking at 13 because I thought it was cool (😳🥴🤨🫣). I continued smoking because I was addicted, I loved it, it was stress relieving, it felt nice etc...

I would imagine vaping has many of the same benefits for young people that smoking had for me 30 years ago, with less negatives (I guess vaping has no dodgy after taste and smelly breath, no stale smell on clothing, it's not seen as being as 'bad' for health as cigarettes etc..) and young people tend to think they're invincible anyway, and the health warnings of cigarettes etc.. don't concern them as much as they might concern a 40/50/60 yr old...

That said, I hope cigarettes and vapes do eventually.faze out as the health risks are horrendous.

This is so bizarre for me to comprehend, I appreciate you replying and I’m pleased you finally saw sense and gave it up, surely that awful smell must have made you feel sick? What about the fact that it makes you smell really bad to others too?

If I was a young smoker I would be looking at all the older smokers with their yellowed teeth, wrinkled mouths, sallow skin, hacking coughs and just think no thank you.

It’s depressing seeing teens vaping that’s for sure. Breathing in poisons for recreational purposes, madness!

The warnings aren't new. I'm 50 and grew up with them and still smoked. Why? Because it's cool, edgy and young people don't believe they will ever get sick to die.

@Onand Not even slightly - the smell doesn't make me feel sick at all. In company I was considerate with mouthwash and gum and no one has ever complained or showed any signs of avoiding me due to smoke smell. If it didn't have health implications I'd be happily smoking now. We're all different OP.

There are and have always been, people who are quite thick.

Hundreds of years when knowledge about how dangerous it was didn’t exist- the proof is irrefutable now in terms of the medical implications.

Smoking is becoming cool again. It’s noticeable in tv shows too. Totally unnecessarily being used in scenes for no reason. The power of the media is huge!

That may be so, but you can still buy them and they are restricted so only adults can buy them. Kids will find that appealing and want the.be grown up and buy them too. They will.want to impress their friends by looking grown up, doing something a bit dangerous, doing something a bit rebellious and edgy.

Having a few cigarettes to look cool.might seem.like a good idea at the time. But nicotine is incredibly addictive, feels great, and so those one or two cigarettes can easily turn into a full daily habit that lasts many years.

I think teens can and do get up to all sorts. We were doing all sorts, smoking , drinking, dabbling in recreational drugs by 17 and not once did I ever ever think of the risks or what it would do to me. When I got older I did. Now, no vice whatsoever, apart from cola 🤣.

The only thing I have to work with is telling my teen their very much loved football team participation will probably be over if vaping starts. It's all around them and I hate it, but that's part of being the older generation now 🤷‍♀️🤣

I agree how tv drama (period, such as recent example set in the 80s- Rivals) makes smoking look ‘cool’, although they do have a warning at beginning ‘depicts tobacco use’ or something silly like that, but in scenes where everyone is smoking it really looks like the cool thing to do, which it was then of course 🤷‍♀️ I wouldn’t say I’ve noticed it in anything but period dramas though? Imagine if we had smell-o-vision!

It's the same with the over consumption of food, especially junk food.

But that doesn't stop over 63% of the population getting themselves overweight.

Humans will always have their struggles with vices.

The only thing that changes are the vices themselves.