Young people and smoking

[Darth Biscuit 12,844]

Went to the store to grab a drink for lunch and as I'm leaving see a young, probably 19-20 y.o. attractive young girl walking up to the store... college age kid, probably on her way to UNCW... with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

Made me think about something I've wondered for a while...

I grew up in the 80's when pretty much everyone smoked... my high school had a designated smoking area for STUDENTS... you could smoke pretty much anywhere else... stores, restaurants, it was no big deal. Yeah, everyone knew smoking was bad for you blah, blah... but it wasn't what it is today.

Today, you can't even legally smoke under 18... you can't smoke anywhere in NC indoors anymore... and pretty much everyone knows that that poo will kill you...

Yet I still see tons of young people smoking?

Is it still the "cool factor"? I can't see how... it makes your teeth yellow and stinks up everything... it's just nasty as fug to me.

I never had the desire to smoke, probably bc my dad and granddad were chain smokers when I was young and I hated it... fortunately my dad quit when I was about 10, but it pretty much killed my granddad.

So all you young huddlers... why do people start smoking nowadays?

[stankowalski 2,847]

I'd tell you but I'm going for a smoke.

[Panthro 10,423]

I still crave one on occasion and will have one if I'm out golfing or drinking.

I smoked for 10 years and am glad I am done with a pack a day habit. I feel healthier and smell better. I wish I found it disgusting as some nonsmokers do...

[Jase 12,844]

the indoor smoking ban was just recent. It's hard not to start smoking when you'd get the contact nicotine any time you'd go to a bar.

[Darth Biscuit 12,844]

I still crave one on occasion and will have one if I'm out golfing or drinking.

I smoked for 10 years and am glad I am done with a pack a day habit. I feel healthier and smell better. I wish I found it disgusting as some nonsmokers do...

I definitely understand that once you start it's hard to stop... it's a drug.

I just don't get why, with the information we have about it now, people start in the first place.

[Panthro 10,423]

I definitely understand that once you start it's hard to stop... it's a drug.

I just don't get why, with the information we have about it now, people start in the first place.

Why drink

Why eat donuts

Why drive fast

Why play sports

[Panthro 10,423]

But I see and know where you are coming from

[CarolinaNCSU 5,531]

I smoked a little in high school, and it probably was just the whole "cool" factor, being rebellious, etc.

Hell, even though I have a dad who chain smokes, I still smoked for whatever reason, and then switched to using Snus for a few years before quitting that 4 months ago. I'll have a cigarette now if I'm drinking/pissed at something, but my only explanation for why I ever did during high school was the whole cool/rebel thing.

[mmmbeans 443]

<quit 2 weeks ago after 14 years. sucks.

non-smokers are just people that haven't tried it yet and don't know what they're missing. I love cigarettes and will miss them forever.

:(

[Cary Kollins 19,929]

I definitely understand that once you start it's hard to stop... it's a drug.

I just don't get why, with the information we have about it now, people start in the first place.

I think people start because of peer pressure and the social aspect of smoking. When I was in highschool and throughout college, most of my friends and I smoked when we drank, which was quite often. It's just so easy to become a smoker when others around you are doing it. Plus the nicotin addiction that comes along with cigs.

I was fortunate enough to not crave cigs unless I was drinking. Eventually being with non-smokers every time I went out made the urge go away entirely. Every once in a blue moon I might have a smoke.

[Darth Biscuit 12,844]

Yeah, I see that there are definitely reasons people start... and Panthro has a point, young people don't make the best decisions... there were a thousand things I did when I was > 20 that were just dumb.

I wonder what the rate of smokers is now... has it declined? It doesn't seem like it just from general observations.

[Guest]

I found some marlboros in my sons room once. I told him he was a fool and a dumbass. I could have yelled at him all I wanted but I knew that whatever I said wouldn't matter (because it didn't matter to me when I started smoking). I did tell him it was stupid and I hoped that he wasn't addicted yet.

[Guest]

Yeah, I see that there are definitely reasons people start... and Panthro has a point, young people don't make the best decisions... there were a thousand things I did when I was > 20 that were just dumb.

I wonder what the rate of smokers is now... has it declined? It doesn't seem like it just from general observations.

http://www.infopleas...a/A0762370.html

56.9% 1955 vs. 21.5% 2010 (males)

[Darth Biscuit 12,844]

So there are fewer and it is getting better, but the rate of change has slowed significantly.

[Cary Kollins 19,929]

Here is a link to the CDC fact sheet with some interesting information. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/

Most telling to me is the education statistics of smokers. Basically, the higher your education, the less likely it is that you smoke.

Smokers by Education:

-45.2% of adults with a GED diploma

• 33.8% of adults with 9–11 years of education
  
• 23.8% of adults with a high school diploma
  
• 9.9% of adults with an undergraduate college degree
  
• 6.3% of adults with a postgraduate college degree