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Comment by GuiA | Hacker News Reader

Has there ever been a widespread, harmful teen phenomenon that wasn’t an overblown moral panic? Whether it’s tidepods, sexting, or fortnite bullying, it seems like journalists and politicians would rather focus their energy on this kind of nonsense than actual concerns (proper sex education comes to mind).

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Vaping is one I'd like to see us put the kibosh on, however.

For real .. it has wiped away years of progress in teen smoking (kids starting to vape are then 4 times more likely to start smoking cigarettes as well).

Agreed - it is probably slightly less harmful than smoking barring exploding batteries but is still a clear case of nicotine merchants being pieces of shit about "not advertising carcinogens".

It is a cliche but they are way better off not starting in the first place.

Vape Panic: more vestigal puritanical nonsense hysteria distraction.

except it does carry actual health risks?

If health risks are the concern the focus should be on harm reduction.

Then the question is if studying efficacy of harm reduction methods including bans or age limits or wide educational campaigns, monitoring of quality or other measures.

But moral panic wants none of that.

In all seriousness yes but only for stuff society approved of and encouraged anyway like working in unsafe factories or serving in wars.

Remember 80's metal? It wasn't evil enough until some religious nuts started playing the songs backward and heard what they tried really hard to hear. Then it leaked to pop and even mor songs.

Every generation freaks out about something.

The satanic panic wasn't confined to heavy metal lyrics. The same opportuniatic zealotry also led to misinterpretation of hypnosis in clinical settings which ruined the lives of innocent daycare workers and scrambling the lives of children subjected to the practice.

(and then there's the whole Dungeons and Dragons thing...)

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