Why do people start smoking?

[TAFKAP]

I don't mean to be cyncial but I've never understood why people start smoking in the first place, I mean we're constantly being told how unhealthy and addictive it is and yet people still take up smoking. Can anyone here explain this to me?

 

[e=mv^2]

1) It is an enjoyable activity after you get past the initial physical reaction to it.
2) It is social. You make new friends if you smoke.
3) Nicotine is a preasureable drug to use.
4) It give you a reason to go take a break.
5) It gives you something to do when you are bored.
6) It is neat to be able to feel yourself breathing smoke in. The sensation is enjoyable (see #1)

These are also all problems that a person will have to deal with when they try to quit smoking. They hit you like a ton of bricks - are a sublte as a cow moose and MUST be planned for in order to overcome.

1) You lose an enjoyable activity
2) You lose the social time you had while smoking.
3) Nicotine is *PAINFUL* to quit.
4) You have to do something else to take a break or take no break at all.
5) You have to come up with something to do when you are bored.
6) You wish you could have the sensation again.

 

[TAFKAP]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[SparkyMel]

Most people say it's to do with peer pressure, but i didn't feel any pressure at all to start smoking... I just wanted to try it and i really enjoyed it.
And it is a social activity. I've strengthened my friendship with a lot of friends through the eeeeeevil that is tobacco...

But I urge you all: DO NOT START!!!!!
Make friends some other way! Find another way of enjoying yourself! It's not nice after a while to have mucus blocking your throat the whole time.

Plus, kissing doesn't taste too good. (anyone who's ever kissed a smoker will know!)

 

[jenniferstell]

My daughter asked me this same question and I really searched myself for the answer. I started smoking simply because my parents smoked. I was 11 when I started, and I just did it because I saw them doing it all the time. I didn't do it because my friends did or because I wanted to look cool. THAT is what prompted me to quit FOR REAL this time! I do NOT want to start my children smoking! I refuse to cause my children that much pain.

 

[GodsSaint]

I started smoking because i was dumb. i was always hanging around my friends who smoked and would take their cigarettes. i smoked for 9 years and quit two years ago. it was a hard thing to do and still desire a cigarette once in awhile. i'm always praying for God to help me not smoke.

 

[e=mv^2]

I started smoking because i was dumb.

Sweet, Sweet honesty. Breath of fresh air.

 

[Treasurer]

My whole family smoked. I absolutely hated smoke. My parents did not believe in rolling a car window down .

All my life I wanted to be a singer. I competed through school. Chorus, and solo. I sang in church, and with my moms band.

Time passed, and my dreams were destroyed. All I had wanted was robbed from me by being sick. I ended up divorced and my daughter taken away from me because of my illness. I lived alone, and was depressed. That was when I started smoking. The very thing I hated, I picked up. I still am not sure why. Maybe I hated myself. I knew cigarettes was bad. They made sure we knew that in school- they did their best to scare us. Showed us black lungs.

My grandfather died from emphasema. His lungs failed. It was horrible.

I had lost everything, and I wanted to die.

I think that is why I smoked, I wanted to die. And I hated myself.

Dont fret. I dont hate myself anymore, and I no longer wish to die. I would like to be able to quit for good though. God and will power will be the only way to break this cycle though. God has saved me, and I am sure I will be smoke free someday.

(And yes, lack of intellegence. Our hind sight is better than foresight sometimes).