US adult cigarette smoking rate hits new all-time low
apnews.com
apnews.com
Nowadays, I hardly see any smokers. They still have them outside night spots, but it's not many. I only caught the tail end of it, but it used to be all over the place, every single kind of establishment had to accommodate smoking in some way.
On this issue, it's worth looking up the statistic epistemology around how we discovered that smoking is bad for you. At the time a very famous statistician (Fischer?) maintained that we couldn't actually tell whether it was causal or not. In the end the evidence from various studies ruled out various competing hypotheses, for instance that people who are going to get cancer will somehow be more prone to smoke. IIRC they found a dataset of doctors and found the ones who smoked tended to die of cancer more often than those who didn't.
It was Fisher, here's a fantastic summary of the whole episode: https://priceonomics.com/why-the-father-of-modern-statistics...
My statistics professor showed us gruesome pictures of what was done in the 70s due to lack of conclusive evidence that smoking causes cancer. They forced dogs to smoke. https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/may/20/the...
Then monkeys. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6782600/
Now that we have conclusive evidence that smoking causes lung cancer, have we stopped ? Here's a zoo in China that forces a baby monkey to smoke in an apparent attempt to dissuade future smokers. https://metro.co.uk/2021/11/05/china-baby-monkey-forced-to-s...
Former 25+ cigarette a day smoker. It is an addiction and it may start in fun or on a lark, but it pervaded all areas of my life. Being in an airport for a layover and having to leave to smoke and come back through security is a shitty feeling. Running out of - or even running low on - cigarettes regularly created panic in me. I avoided many social activities and interactions because I didn’t want to have to either out myself as a smelly, disgusting smoker or else deprive myself for hours or more at a stretch. And the price has steadily gone up.
I did try vaping for a time and it was likely a better alternative than cigarettes. But the best, speaking from personal experience, is not having any dependency on nicotine at all. The psychological effects were so devastating for me. And as the article says, so many people die or have died of smoking related diseases. And it is a slow, drawn out process. It is an incredible shame and I am very happy that it is affecting a smaller portion of people than ever.
If you genuinely want to quit, you can do it if you learn self-discipline. Say no to social smoking, say no to just another pack, nip it in the bud today if that's what you want for yourself.
Yes, it can be psychological torture in the short-term to not take the easy route, but that's why you started in the first place. In the long-term, your quality of life will be far higher, and you'll be better off for it financially. Take the money you saved from not smoking and invest it in your own health and that of your family.
This is useless advice that basically says “I quit smoking by simply not smoking any more”.
The intent to quit is something you have to be very honest with yourself over.
I say this with countless former smokers in the family, and homeless levels of alcoholism on my partner's side of the family. People can live through hell on the street for decades, people can try and help them too in all kinds of ways from treatment to money to a job, but if they don't want it for themselves then nothing is changing in the long-term. "It's just one drink". Life down the toilet once again, they never actually quit.
And yes, they eventually got off the street after almost twenty years, but it took them to genuinely care about themselves and want better.
I'm not a smoker, just curious.
As a person, I always look for the most efficient and frictionless way to achieve something, the "path of least resistance", including not feeling like physical or psychological trash (read "instant gratification"). That's a character trait and a character flaw.
Trusting in the methodology and idea that "yes, this feels like shit right now, but countless millions of people get through this stage of withdrawal, and they go on to live great lives where they don't feel like crap anymore and instead feel better than when they smoked". When you're down in that ditch, not just quitting, but because your life is sub-par in various ways, and smoking is something you can rely on to make you feel better, it's hard to just leave it alone, and it's difficult to trust that others are right when you have a cynical outlook on the world and it feels like people frequently misguide you and others, so why would it be any different this time? That's a bad perspective. Apply logic and reasoning. Wrestle with it. Rationality.
People would invite me outside for a smoke over a pint, or after achieving something, or after a difficult conversation. I "rewarded" myself with a cancer stick for doing something on the project management system, all kinds of weird little things you do to justify a smoke "because I achieved x and I should be rewarded for x", but the reality is that you were rewarded for x anyway, and x was kind of fun, that's why you do it in the first place, but your worldview revolves around getting the next nicotine fix.
It isn't even just the nicotine. It's "you" time. It's a ritual. It's time to decompress mentally and not look at a screen, do something with your hands that isn't work-related, and "indulge".
But it's all bollocks. There's nothing positive or of substance in smoking. It's all in the head of the smoker. They're hooked.
Sometimes it has meant avoiding certain situations with some people, e.g., I don't go to the pub, or bars. In fact, I don't drink anymore either. Been sober ~7 years now.
After a year or so of saying "no, I won't fucking do that to myself and to my family", suddenly, you just don't want a drink, you just don't want a cigarette. That's not to say that sometimes in a stressful situation I don't reminisce and go "oh, a cigarette would make me feel so much better right now", of course, that happens, then the fantasy passes, and I'm still at my desk, I haven't given in.
To anyone wanting to quit and is serious; get rid of your lighters, including the neat-looking Zippo you like to fidget with, and all the other paraphernalia. Get rid of your ash trays. Get rid of your rolling papers, filters, rolling machine (if you own one). If you're going to quit, why will you need any of it?
Don't replace it with eating junk food. Don't replace it with a cheeky glass of wine. If you have struggled with one kind of addiction, you will struggle with another. The self-discipline is being honest with yourself and reigning the monkey on your shoulder in.
And don't justify "just one smoke" with because it's a holiday or you're on vacation.
Do you see willpower (self-discipline? are these equivalent to you?) as a finite resource similar to muscular exertion? It seems easy enough to make statements such as, "Don't replace smoking with eating junk food." but, if you do view willpower as finite, your remark doesn't do much to address how willpower is trained and grown. It just implies that a person should find a way to have sufficient willpower.
I think I see willpower similar to putting on muscle mass. You need to track where you're at, consistently overload yourself but only slightly, and incorporate rest days to fully recuperate.
I also see it as being primarily about intent, which forms the metaphorical foundation of that muscle. The "skeleton".
E.g., for any smoker reading, you apparently want to quit smoking. Why? Are you sure that's why? Do you actually want that for yourself yet, or is that peer pressure? Do you actually care? Why? Why not?
It's equally about living with consequence.
E.g., if you give in, you'll feel better for a short time, but you are back at square one to getting over the problem, and all your previous efforts are all for nothing. You failed, you wasted time and energy and will need to go through feeling like crap all over again, but you could have just said "no" and held out and never need to feel this crap again.
For some people, cold turkey is the only way. For others, it needs to be gradual, but for a lot of people, they don't actually need gradual, it's kidding themselves they're quitting and doing something about the problem, and in turn kidding others. I'd say in most cases, the only way you're going to get through it is cold turkey, period, and just ride out the shitty feeling, it's got to happen at some point, may as well be now if you're serious.
The "rest days" are not uncommonly complete relapses in addiction for most people. The reward is not smoking, the reward isn't a compromise of smoking now and then or having a glass of wine instead. This is why I say intent is everything. The "skeleton" you're applying that "muscle" to will get crushed if the intent isn't solid.
It's a very interesting topic of discussion to be honest. That smoking has a physiological and sociological impact makes it fascinating in how it's solved.
To anybody who doesn't smoke but is considering it, really, don't. All fun and games until you're hooked, and you will be.
Honestly how did that ever even work? Ostensibly you had situations like people smoking while patients were wheeled around with oxygen? Of course back then the insulation was asbestos so maybe nobody worried about fires!
Me sitting in the train for 6 hours every adult is smoking, same for restaurants etc
Gwern on the subject: https://gwern.net/nicotine
Breaking a nicotine addiction is something most people struggle with for years.
The Gwern article posted earlier is more about the benefits of nicotine, but does note that nicotine is potentially more disruptive than caffeine: "we will want to be more careful with the nicotine than with modafinil or caffeine, where the main consequence of carelessness is tolerance rendering the stimulant useless or messing up our sleep for a few days."
Also note that the article specifically calls out that vaping is an issue, and the author is only comfortable with the use of nicotine gum.
It mainly points out that if you are extremely careful with the addictive properties, it's a decent drug. But no, I don't think we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater because the lack of studies on the topic of vaping, and the potential of saddling you with a difficult to shake addiction.
To provide context, I started smoking before later finding vapes. I regularly switched between the two throughout the day - depending on the context. For a period of time I smoked four packs a day and vaped 50mg nicsalt in between that.
Others have said that quitting is a matter of will, and that things like patches or vapes are ineffective gimmicks. I disagree with this notion, and the logic behind it. I used patches to quit, and they were very effective. I also believe that we have to accept a lot of people aren't at the right place to quit smoking entirely.
Vaping is a much better alternative to smoking tobacco. It does not have tar, monoxide, or any other chemicals. It is three chemicals - VG, PG, and Nicotine. If you are a person who smokes a pack a day, switching to vapes will still add time onto your life.
Yes, quitting entirely is still the best outcome. But are we really gonna tell people not to bother minimizing risk just because they arent ready to quit entirely? It's arrogant, in my opinion.
The US in particular vilifies vaping to a greater extent than European nations. I think this is likely because Europe still has a strong smoking culture, but it also shows that they understand there is still a benefit to risk mitigation.
We need to stop pretending like there is a one and done strategy to quitting. Smoking rate decreasing and vape usage increasing are not exclusive outcomes. These are people on a journey - and we should encourage them along the way.
Recently, on a Saturday evening, I passed by two young girls. One said to the other, a bit disgruntled, "I will only fake smoke tonight, I will not smoke for real anymore". Fake smoking here means a real cigarette, but not inhaling. Which ofcourse looks a bit silly.
Strange thing though, advertisements about smoking were always about being independent and tough/rebel. Rebel against your parents ofcourse. But independent? Naah... Starting with smoking is more about giving in to social pressure. A few tough people in your social group start smoking, and telling the others to also start smoking, otherwise they are not tough and independent. I do hope we get more people who can say no and not give in to that social pressure. In the end, smoking simply signals that you give in to social pressure, very unlike the advertisements tell you.
We have Edward Bernays to thank/blame for that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torches_of_Freedom
Cigarettes are some of the best evidence we have that we don't need prohibition to change behavior. We actually are capable of using regulation, taxation, and education to help encourage people to make smart choices on a society-wide scale. It's rare, it takes decades, and boy oh boy do a lot of incentives have to align. But it can be done!
It only took over 60 years, entire generations, and millions dead. Meanwhile giant corporations profited immensely, literally advertised to children, and made up shit science and fostered a general anti-science and anti-intellectualism vibe among the ones who need education most. Glad avoided prohibition for that! It was so beneficial to society to allow people the freedom to inhale literal poison for the benefit of an insanely addictive, mild stimulant, with awful withdrawals, all while poisoning the people around them.
What a goddamn victory for liberty.
I fail to see how it's an alternative to something that took a long time and cost a lot... but worked.
One of the major problems with prohibition is that it closes off a lot of the avenues we could otherwise use to reduce harm, while creating a black market and, in the case of the utterly senseless "War on Drugs," pushing tons of people into the criminal justice system and creating a massive industry for incarceration of low-level users.
After all this voluntarily created human misery, we've still got a crisis of opioid and other drug abuse in our society, and it's not clear that prohibition does much at all to reduce real rates of usage on the ground. A quick Google suggests that over 100,000 people died of overdoses in 2021.
What a goddamn victory for prohibition.
The decline of tobacco use is proof that there is a better way. It's just harder, takes longer, and, yes, despite the sneers of those who think they know better, has to respect individual liberty, personal responsibility, and freedom of choice.
https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2021/07/Smoking-and-lung-...
It peeks in 1960. After that there's a plateau and then a long decline.
The thing that gets me is- why 1960? I mean there were lots of things done after that but if you look at it I can't help but imagine that the causality is backwards. That all the things done to make smoking cigarettes harder were just put there because people didn't want to smoke whatever the reason was.
Partially due to covid/lockdowns, I started drinking at home more regularly. It's now 4-5 times per month, vs 2-3 times per year. Still can't do too much - heartburn in middle of night if I have more than a drink or so.
Part of the reason I felt more comfortable taking it up was financial. Denied myself this 'indulgence' for a few decades because the cost always seemed relatively high. I can afford it now more than I could 20 years ago, so I'm trying out new things and seeing what I like.
But I definitely felt some social awkwardness when you'd be the only person in a group not drinking. I think the social expectations have changed a bit over the decades - it's not as expected. And... I've changed over the decades - I care far less what people think of me in social settings like that.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/3936579-why-...
https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-killing-beer...
It's honestly really absurd how many things millenials have killed. At this point it's just a point of pride how much stuff we're leaving in the past.
I think Marijuana smoking is increasing - it feels like I can't go a day anymore without smelling pot smoke somewhere. (I live in the Portland, OR area)
Are there more health problems as a result of smoking or obesity, in cases where one has made this trade?
The meme of "model having Virginia Slims for lunch" is probably just a very specific subset of the overall smoking population.
But of course I'm also just going off anecdata/own experience