Friday, 02 July 2010
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Is Smoking Still Cool?
'Tis the season for taxes and it came as no surprise that the tax on cigarettes went up. The average pack in New York City costs around $10.80. Compare it to a couple of years ago when the average was around $5. With clove cigarettes and flavored blunt papers outlawed, it doesn't seem probable that the war on the tobacco industry will stop any time soon. As cigarette prices escalate, will they lose their cool factor?
There are many reasons why smoking cigarettes has been considered “cool” behavior. Smoking is accessible (you can get it anywhere and don't have to wait until you are 21), you can multitask when you smoke (the same can't be said for drinking), and it gives off a very nonchalant air about the person doing it. The “I don't give a damn” image was certainly why I tried my first cigarette. But now with cigarette prices skyrocketing (and the omnipresence of quit smoking ads), this bad boy icon of insouciant behavior might just come crashing down.
When cigarettes were cheap, people bought packs with the same ease as they would buying beer or a pack of gum. But at $10.80, quite a bit more consideration is put into the purchase. The next time you go light up a cigarette, you might just end up asking yourself if you really NEED to smoke that cigarette or save it for a later time. The higher the cost of the product, the more the product becomes a luxury item. There are alternatives of course, like the electronic cigarette. It's healthier and cheaper but it's just not the same. It's not really smoking if your cigarette doesn't produce any smoke.So will there be a new cool bad behavior to take the cigarette's impending vacancy? Is it possible to find another product that will become as prevalent in everyday life and culture as cigarettes have been for the last couple of centuries that doesn't involve illegalities? Yes, people will keep smoking. It's an addiction, after all. But the cigarette will lose the edge, especially its hold over teens and people in their early to mid-twenties. Whatever the cool new fad may be, I just hope it's not bro- icing or else Joe Camel might start crying in the fetal position.
Be honest, did you start smoking because you thought it looked cool? What do you think will be the new “cool” bad behavior?
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About the Author
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- From: ChristineZee
- About Me: David Bowie wrote "Kooks" about me.
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Comments (115)
I started smoking because I wanted to get the experience out of the way. No one I knew was a smoker so it wasn't about being "cool," nor did that concept influence my decision to quit.
anyone who chooses to do anything just because it's "cool" is a moron. i don't care of people smoke, or do anything to themselves that doesn't affect me, but they should do it because they actually want to. i never ever started smoking cigarettes. and i started smoking hookah because i'm always happy to dabble in anything legal that gives me a nice buzz.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - "anyone who chooses to do anything just because it's "cool" is a moron. "
Usually it has nothing to do with their level of intelligence. You can be the smartest person on the planet and still succumb to peer pressure, it's not at all an uncommon thing.
..I never thought smoking was cool.
I don't like smoking... my Mom's on a oxygen tank because of it. I wouldn't want to date someone that smoked... I don't want to smoke...
But for some reason. There is still something occasionally sexy to me... thinking of a foreign man smoking or a casual smoke outside of the pub. Not where I am drawn to them... its just sexy and looks slightly rebellious I suppose. Despite how common it is today.
I don't smoke and i will never smoke..
I don't understand why people even start smoking now. When cigarettes first came out, people didn't know they caused health problems and addiction. But we know that now, so why do people even start? Hey, guess what, smoking cigarettes has high potential to kill you, and if it doesn't, it's going to slow you down A LOT. Okay, lemme just light up real quick. I don't get it.
@theDevilWeeps@xanga - Perhaps it's the same reason why people are constantly eating fast food and drinking carbonated drinks?
people who smoke make me crazy!
Its not cool and it kills, dunno why people do it.
i used to smoke back in high school but only for a couple of months, i got it out of my system and i now think that its one of the dumbest things you can possibly do. i have no respect for smokers. if people WANT to waste their money buying expensive cigarettes, its fine by me. just please don't blow the smoke in my face. kthanxxx. just because you want lung cancer does not mean that i want it too.
@sarahvega@xanga - Because cigarettes have an appealing taste?
I've always been intrigued by the LOGIC for people's reasoning:
@sarahvega@xanga - no offense but to get the experience out of the way? You make it sound like a checklist of important things to do in one's life. Its not puberty, college or marriage.
Because of peer pressure?! Who pressures someone to smoke?!
Because, "If you don't I'm telling mom you smoke." wtf?! Yes a friend of mine's explanation for why she smokes was this, and smokes ever since.
Because I like the taste, did you like the taste when you began, probably not.
Because I want to stay skinny. 1. You're not skinny now 2. there are considerably cheaper ways 3. yes that way it'll be easier to find the cancer and tumors, no xrays or mri's needed!
Is smoking still cool? No. Was it ever cool? No.
$10/pack? teens and hobos can't afford it, so that makes the image surrounded cigarettes a lot better.
I've never once in my life had the urge to try a cigarette. My mom's conditions made sure of that.
I wish they were nonexistent, honestly... and they're definitely uncool in my eyes.
Yeah smoking looks cool, only if the person is cool to begin with.
I started because of confidence and weight issues.
I don't regret it, but, it's definitely time to ditch the habit and move on.
There is no positive practical reason to smoke... cost, health, habit forming, bad breath, toxic, odor.. its a definite thumbs down, highly unattractive and uncool. I don't think anyone in their right mind would think smoking is cool; I believe most smokers do so knowing its harmful and shameful... unfortunately its their addiction that keeps them going back to it.
i smoke for a solution. lucky for me, a pack of cigarettes is only $5 here.
I do not smoke because I learned from mistakes made by smokers.
@KeepingBlue@xanga - lack of self-confidence or the perception that it gives you confidence? And weight issues? So you'd rather have cancer then chosing healthier options: diet excercise?
@bigAges@xanga - solution?
I usually like the people that do smoke cigarettes, but I HATE being around them. Seriously, screw you for upping my cancer risk just because you feel like you "need" a cigarette. It is just extremely selfish, if you want to hurt yourself then that is your own prerogative, but please try and do it away from me. /endrant
@Thumper49047@xanga - Your comment seems entirely unnecessary.
I have always hated cigarettes, and I find smokers to be weaker people than non-smokers. Twenty years in management tells me this, but it only takes one day to notice the pattern that smokers need more breaks than healthy people. They get angry and irritable when they can't feed their addiction, and less productive because of it. And they whine more. I was legally prevented from discriminating against hiring smokers, but that doesn't mean I didn't do it. My non-smoking employees were always happier in a non-smoking environment, and happy employees are productive employees. So there's the business perspective.
Na, never had the urge to smoke.