Social Smoking: Why Bother?

November 29, 2007 9:30 am     Posted in Body  Jess - NYU g+ page

socialsmoking.gifI don’t smoke, but I have a lot of friends who do. When I’ve asked some of them how long they’ve been craving nicotine, many—to my disappointment—admitted getting into it only a few years prior.


By Jess

It was the social thing to do in college, one of my friends said, lighting up while we were driving one afternoon. It was hard for me to meet people. But at parties, these huge groups of people would be outside smoking. I’d go out there, bum a smoke, and talk to everyone. She exhaled, trying to blow it out the window, but only succeeding in covering me with poison. I tried not to breathe, and nodded.

Another time, a different friend and I were backpacking through Europe. Our hostel had a small back porch, and a lot of people sat outside at night and smoked. Whenever we would go out there, she’d light up, and start talking to everyone. I knew she wasn’t a big smoker, and it felt strange to watch her light cigarette after cigarette, laughing and joking and going through a half a pack in only a few hours.

You know, I said as we were going to sleep that night (in a room that consisted of us, and 7 Argentinean boys…so I guess when I say sleep, I mean, “as we were attempting to try to sleep, something that never happened the whole time we were there”) you could just go out and talk to people and not smoke. Just because other people are smoking, you don’t have to.

This little piece of advice got me the silent treatment for a few hours. She said I was being rude, I thought I was just pointing out the obvious.

Social smoking is a phenomenon that seems to happen most readily during college and the early Twenty-Something years. The smoking groups, standing outside a party, huddled together on the back steps in winter, killing time before class, are popular places for people to meet. How can you not strike up a conversation? Persecuted by purists, shuttled out of doors in all types of weather, smokers share a common bond. There is an instant connection merely by association.

But is the experience really worth it? Is meeting a few possible new friends worth picking up a habit that’s proven to harm your organs and even kill you? Why would you ignore all the ads and instruction of your childhood, which told you time and time again how horrible smoking is for your body, in an attempt feel more popular? And, like I asked my friend, couldn’t you just go out there and not smoke?

A new study has even found preliminary data that second hand smoke from all those crowds outside of bars and restaurants may actually be harming those of us inside. With this new information in my back pocket, and a lifelong confusion as to why anyone would want inhale something that tastes like the shit that comes out of your car’s tailpipe, I can’t help but ask—if you’re not addicted already, why start?

5 Comments on "Social Smoking: Why Bother?"

  1. Drea says:
    Thu, 29th Nov 20076:56 am 

    I am a self-confessed social smoker despite the fact that I started purely out of curiosity. But i have meet a lot of people…i love randomly making conversation with people.

  2. Christine says:
    Thu, 29th Nov 20078:07 pm 

    Second hand smoke doesn't really do shit to anyone. Do you have any idea how much you'd actually have to inhale before it starts to do anything? A lot. To put it simply, it takes most smokers YEARS to develop any sort of cancer (and some don't, and some aren't that lucky and develop it fast. It's all about genetics) and that's with the constant inhalation and such. People who inhale second hand smoke aren't getting enough toxins to really do much damage. The 'second hand smoke' agenda is spread by the anti-smokers, in attempt to scare people.

  3. Lucy says:
    Mon, 7th Jul 20081:06 pm 

    I have read in numerous articles that only about 15% of smokers develop lung cancer. Although, yes, I know about emphyzema and such, I AM NOT SCARED. Half of my family are smokers and none of them have suffered from any smoking-related diseases, although other people may not have as good a family history. I enjoy smoking. I do not mind if I die at age 70 instead of 75. I think that you were being overly-sensitive. Most smokers I know do not give a shit if you smoke or not, it's your own choice. There's no reason for you to harp on them, it's their own damn health.

    I wish people would leave smokers the fuck alone. How long has tobacco been around?? Since about…forever.

  4. Davis says:
    Wed, 29th Oct 20087:49 am 

    Maybe this is just a phenomena at my University, but I've found it easy to hang out with smokers socially, and not smoke. Generally, it helps if you smoke one, but even then, nobody really bothers you about it. People, I find, are much more interested in conversation and networking than whether or not you smoke.

  5. Jeanna says:
    Thu, 18th Dec 20084:51 pm 

    As someone who has been smoking socially for years and has picked it up as a habit, I know that the truth of the matter is that it truly was my choice. I wasn't pressured. I knew the health risks. I also knew that some of my non-smoking friends weren't going to understand it. And indeed, they didn't. However, I waved away their snide remarks and "helpful" comments because they were my friends. After a friend publicly yelled at me for smoking and threw away my cigarette however, I became less tolerant. If I am not smoking around you and my habit in no way impacts our friendship, why the hell would you go out of your way to make me feel uncomfortable? Isn't our friendship worth more than one small flaw? Can't you accept it and move on? Your so called advice not only insulted your friend's intelligence (she KNOWS) but, your friendship as your felt it necessary to belittle and berate your friend. That IS how she felt it and it IS how any other friend that you put through that treatment will feel about it. If your friends' smoking bothers you, suck it up. Treat it like you would some other habit like driving a little too fast, unless you're in the car its not for you to say slow down. Otherwise you're risking your friendship.

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