Funny

When I say that they don’t relieve stress, please understand what I mean.

The net stress received from smoking cigarettes is greater than an individual’s short term benefits. Your health will suffer. Your friends and family will suffer. You are modeling to those around you that smoking is acceptable. “Do as I say and not as I do” is not convincing to everyone because we are social creatures who learn by observation.

Smoking also does not provide any tools to properly manage anxiety or any other types of stress. It does not teach you to tolerate your feelings and work through them. Cigarettes are chemically addictive- your body is stressed when it feels the chemical desire for a cigarette. You crave it. It feels good to use it. It entices you to use more. It rewires your brain to think “I feel something. I need it to change. A cigarette will make me feel what I need.” The more someone uses cigarettes, the more dependent they become and the harder it is to quit.

This is not a DARE or Reefer Madness bit. I am calling out the harm it causes to society. When a show uses suicide as a topic, they typically have a disclaimer and the phone number (800-950-626 in the US) of the suicide hotline. I believe this is important because if someone sees a potentially life ending/ruining topic, they need to be made aware of their options and provided with the facts. In the same vein, if someone is spreading misinformation, fake news, lies, it is important to call them out.

We live in a society, and it is the duty of each individual in our society to look out for one another. If even one person reads my comment and thinks “hmm, this guy took this lighthearted topic seriously for some reason. I wonder why”, I’ve done my job.