<p>I don't care if smokers smoke by themselves. But there are these kids right outside the entrance to my dorm. I have to walk passed them multiple times a day. It's very annoying and I don't know why they do this.</p>
<p>I made this thread to discuss why kids are still smoking despite all the negative qualities about it. And also share experiences with other people. It just surprises the number of people that start smoking knowing all of this. Why do people start smoking when it's at the expense of other people?</p>
<p>it's not just feeling "cool". Smoking calms your nerves, makes you relaxed, and helps you lose weight. Sometimes people start and simply can't quit because they're addicted.</p>
<p>ok and obviously I was kidding about 105, but my point was not everyone wants to live a long and healthy life, some people would rather die at 70 or so. there's nothing wrong with smoking, but it smells so bad and I can't stand the smell. I'm from Long Island but go to college in Manhattan and it seems everyone smokes. When I get off the train at night back in my hometown, I breath deep and enjoy the fresh air. I once read a statistic that the average New Yorker's life is shortened because of second hand smoke (not by much).</p>
<p>It's 2009...with all that is known about smoking, I don't know why people choose to do it but that's their choice...</p>
<p>It's one thing if people smoke in a secluded area, quite another if they're smoking right in front of the building exits. Any way you can send in a complaint?...that's a health hazard for those who don't want crap in their pink healthy lungs...</p>
<p>You know what REALLY bother me? People driving cars. Don't they know that it's unsafe and pollutes the enviornment? Every time I walk down Euclid, some inconsiderate jerk drives by in a car or truck and I have to inhale their exhaust fumes. It's just not fair, I don't ask to inhale carbon monoxide or risk getting hit my a motorist because they think it's they choose to drive. They could get a bike or walk, but no. They decide to pollute MY air. I mean, I HAVE to walk down Euclid to get to my classes, and they force ME to inhale their fumes. What jerks.
Or how about whenever I walk into the cafeteria, I see fat people eating junk food and ice cream. I mean, don't they know by now it's unhealthy, leading to increased health insurance costs, and can kill them? Or when people eat anything with trans fat, or go to tanning salons, or drink, or use cell phones... God, I'm so sick of other people making their own lifestyle decisions.
Grow up.</p>
<p>Personally, I think smoking is dumb- cigarettes are expensive (a pack a day smoker spends thousands of dollars on cigarettes a year!), and they cause so much damage to your body. I also can't stand the smell, I can't stand being around someone who's smoking, or even someone who smells really badly like smoke. A smoker might be lucky and never develop lung cancer, but a non-smoker could get lung cancer too. Smoking doesn't guarantee that you'll get cancer and die earlier, but it greatly increases the chance of getting cancer and dying earlier. But, like some other posters have said, a non-smoker could be otherwise healthy, but get hit by a car and killed in their 20s.</p>
<p>However, a friend of mine, who is a smoker, explained that it was his way of dealing with stress, and it relaxes him and makes him feel calm. Smoking is a stupid way of dealing with stress/emotions (there are other, better, safer, less expensive ways), but for some, it's the only way they know, or the only way that they think will work (not that this is an excuse... they just need to find some other way to deal).</p>
<p>why don't you put the energy you spend *****ing about the carcinogens in secondhand smoke into making sure you're taking all the steps you can toward improving your health (healthy eating, regular exercise, no alcohol/drugs, early-to-bed and early-to-rise, stress management, limited sun/tanning bed expsoure, etc etc)? </p>
<p>i'm not a smoker, and i think the smell is gross as well, but it's not THAT big of a deal.</p>
<p>Well, I live in Canada and we have a national healthcare system. It means that taxpayers are paying for everyone's health issues. There's no reason why the long waiting lists should get any longer because people smoke. Smoking costs taxpayers billions. But, they do pay higher taxes to buy the tobacco so I guess in the end it balances out.</p>
<p>Plus, some people are just rude enough to smoke at bus stops. </p>
<p>I also agree with posters who said stress is not an excuse for smoking. There are so many other things you could do including watching movies, playing games, hanging-out, exercising, buy pets. All of them cost less than smoking.</p>
<p>Yep. I just love it to death (get the pun?) when I walk by smokers and I feel that familiar constriction in my throat. I don't mind the smell, but do it someplace discreet so weak, asthma ridden kids like me don't feel like they're climbing mt everest every time they encounter a smoke cloud.</p>
<p>My dad used to smoke like 3 packs a day. How does he find time to smoke so many? Doesn't it take like 3-5 minutes to smoke just 1 cig?</p>
<p>^
It's like McDonald burgers. The first time you eat the Big Mac it takes a long time. You savour every piece. But after a while you just eat it in two bites.</p>
<p>All you people want smokers to go to "secluded areas" to smoke. I go to school in an urban campus. The nearest "secluded area" is probably the graveyard a few blocks away. Should students really walk to a graveyard to smoke? The 20 feet away from the entrance to a building rule is stupid too. In cities it is pretty damn hard to find a location 20 feet from any building. </p>
<p>I don't smoke regularly. It's been like 3 months since I've had a cigarette and I smoke cigars about once a month. I really like the feeling I get when I smoke, but hate the smell. The simplest alternative is chewing tobacco. It has no smoke, but is a billion times more disgusting. One of my friends started to dip last year and it was really gross watching him do it. I've tried it before too and it was the grossest experience of my life. I'd rather breath in a pack a day worth of second hand smoke than walk around a campus with people dipping.</p>
<p>Other people's habits are not my business, but I do want to say one thing. Sure, you can live a long life even if you smoke. However, your quality of life can be quite poor. Lung cancer is not a pretty way to die. It can be drawn out and very, very painful. Emphysema is not pretty either.</p>
<p>Like other posters have pointed out, smoking is just like any other unhealthy yet somehow desirable action. Telling someone, "You smoke, but you know it kills you, so why do you do it?" is like telling someone not to eat fast food, or eat fried food, or play video games instead of exercising, or get less than 8 hours of sleep, or drink alcohol, or...you get the idea.</p>
<p>I guess the only difference one could argue is that smoking inconveniences OTHER people as well, but in reality the inconvenience is small. The moment we start griping and condemning people because they do something that SMELLS bad is the moment we need to start reconsidering our priorities. Second-hand smoke is unhealthy, but my understanding is that the effects from walking by a smoker for a few seconds every day is relatively negligible.</p>
<p>I think that it's important to educate the populace about the harmful effects of smoking, but I also think that all of the anti-smoking emphasis in society today has had a somewhat brainwashing effect. It becomes an overreaction when it comes to the point that we start condemning other people for doing something that's their own business and hardly harms other people at all.</p>