So... why start smoking?

[The Apothecarry]

Does anybody else realize that cigarettes are radioactive because of all the shit that's in them?

I suppose some start out because they want to look cool or fit in. I for one will never smoke because every time I pass a smoker, it triggers my asthma, and I don't want an asthma attack every time I light one up.

 

[Mr. Highway]

Nicotine is scientifically proven to increase dopamine level, which causes a state of euphoria and relaxation . So it is more than just controller breathing.

So do bananas/smiling/ even thinking happy thoughts. Theres A multitude of other things & I. am. a scientist. [dammit i had to edit this twice to get the quote right. haha.]

 

[bdcjacko]

Nicotine is scientifically proven to increase dopamine level, which causes a state of euphoria and relaxation . So it is more than just controller breathing.

So do bananas/smiling/ even thinking happy thoughts. Theres A multitude of other things & I. am. a scientist.

What is your point? Just because other things increase dopamine doesn't discredit the fact that smoking do in fact help people relax.

 

[Darkauthor81]

Oh I'm not anti-smoking. I actually think it's criminal that they're raising the price of cigarettes as an indirect way to make people give them up. When they're done with cigarettes what's next? Soda? Alcohol? Video games? Junk food?

I'm all for personal choice even if it results in death. Especially if it results in death. If you want to smoke, you want to do drugs, you want to jump off a cliff into a shallow pool of water, you want to drive without a seat belt on? Do it! With a world population approaching 7 billion, why do we need to stop people from doing crap they know will kill them? Everyone knows smoking is going to kill them. It's their choice for taking it up. Just like it's my choice to laugh at them for it.

No, what I am against is coming up with BS reasoning to justify your self destructive behavior which is what that whole argument was really about from my perspective. If a smoker says "Yeah I got hooked trying to impress this one girl and now I'm addicted. Even though I hack up tar and smell like smoke I just don't want to stop it's my choice." Then hey! Power to ya! But if you come at me with crap like "I've fooled myself into believing my complete dependence on this drug has bettered my life" Well, being independent and doing what you want is one thing. Being an idiot is another.

I see you are familiar with the Czech Republic Retirement Plan

Were humans, all we do is justify impulses and emotions. I justify my smoking with post-hoc analysis, and moral relativism. And you justify your contempt and arrogance with a heightened sense of self worth, will to power, and malthusian spark-notes. So i suppose we can simply agree that we are both worthless pricks and call it a day

The most sensible thing I've heard all day. Have a good day man.

 

[Aijou]

Know how people in movies and tv always make fun of marijuana being a "gateway drug"? Well, it kinda is. May not lead to heroin and PCP, but I dunno how much better a pack and a half a day is.

Same goes for many of my smoking friends, started with weed, moved on from there.

This probably isn't quite as common in the US, as they tend to smoke their weed clean, but with mostly shitty hash around where I live, many stoners pick up the smoking habit.

 

[Mr. Highway]

My point is: that it is pointless and unnecessary
Uh Oh i can see this develouping into a philosophical discussion... especially seen as we're on a gaming site......

 

[MorphingDragon]

It's extremely relaxing when done in moderation.

So is pumping the rod. I don't see why smokers should ever have to leave their bedroom.

Unfortunately spanking the monkey in public is frowned upon, whereas smoking isn't.

That was probably half sarcasm.

In some areas in Auckland City, you pretty much get a soul killing stare smoking in public.

 

[bdcjacko]

My point is: that it is pointless and unnecessary
Uh Oh i can see this develouping into a philosophical discussion... especially seen as we're on a gaming site......

Smoking is pointless because other things do the same thing less effectively?

 

[SundayRoast]

Oh man, smoking is so awesome!
You get a reason for going outside, standing in the cold for 5 minutes.
Your voice gets wheezy and you start coughing.
You aerobic condition starts to get worse. (A flight of stairs... ... Now feels like 10 flights of stairs).
You start smelling bad.
And last but not least, you don't get too much of a good numb dizzy feeling, but instead you feel like shit when you don't have a smoke and feel less like shit when you do.

 

[Plurralbles]

I did not feel sick after smoking my first time...

It's kinda' fun to do when I'm alone with my thoughts.

 

[Plurralbles]

My point is: that it is pointless and unnecessary
Uh Oh i can see this develouping into a philosophical discussion... especially seen as we're on a gaming site......

YEAH SO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!



I always love it when people online, especially this site, instantly post like they're a genius and the epitome of human evolution for not smoking...

 

[bdcjacko]

Oh man, smoking is so awesome!
You get a reason for going outside, standing in the cold for 5 minutes.
Your voice gets wheezy and you start coughing.
You aerobic condition starts to get worse. (A flight of stairs... ... Now feels like 10 flights of stairs).
You start smelling bad.
And last but not least, you don't get too much of a good numb dizzy feeling, but instead you feel like shit when you don't have a smoke and feel less like shit when you do.

Not everyone lives in the fascist no smoking arctic.

 

[iLikeHippos]

I suppose it's a reason to get out of the house and a 'social' thing to do. When else can you walk outside with a certain someone and talk?
Oh wait...

Granted, it's a dumb thing to do. But than again, what hobby isn't? (I see smoking as a hobby.) Just playing games strikes off time you could had used socializing and gained a better life all around.

Um, what? Are you comparing gaming to inhaling a carcinogen? Please tell me that you're joking...

Actually, I'm not comparing. I'm just making an example. Besides, gaming, if done excessively could damage your health as well.
No exercise is a big pointer.

 

[Jonabob87]

young, stupid, social pressure and the desire to look cool/grown up.

All the other ansers are bulls*** and are usually from smokers who are in denial.

Nicotine is probably the very worst drug around to become addicted to, because it really gets you nothing in return from your addiction. Alcohol and weed for example at least give you a nice buzz when you use it.

Nicotine doesn't do shit for you.

*lights up*

Nicotine does give you a buzz, maybe not as powerful as marijuana or alcohol, but it does effect you physically and mentally.

I think i know what you mean, but your wrong.
If you're referring to the fact you can get lightheaded from a cigarette, that's just the drop in oxygen in your blood because nicotine replaces it. It's not the nicotine, it is the sudden lack of oxygen.
If you mean that nicotine calms you down... well, you wouldn't even get restless if it wasn't for those mild withdrawl symptoms. So your looking at that backwards.
Nicotine has absolutly no enjoyable effects besides staving of the actual withdrawl symptoms and lets be honest: that just doesn't count because you would not feel restless if you never got addicted.

I wish i never started looking back at it.

First I'll repeat what mikozero said, he speaks truth:

except for the fact its a stimulant that effects the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain causing an increase in dopamine in the reward circuits of the brain are responsible for the euphoria and relaxation and also affects the sympathetic nervous system acting via splanchnic nerves to the adrenal medulla, stimulating the release of epinephrine (aka adrenaline)

Also, I'm not a regular smoker, I'm not addicted. I don't smoke because I get anxious I do it mostly because I either feel like it or because sitting outside on a cool summers evening with a coffee and cigar feels awesome.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Astounding lack of common sense. Whatever personal justifications smokers might come up to explain their habits, the truth of the matter is that smoking is an incredibly stupid thing to do - it makes you smell like ass, it's bloody expensive, and oh yeah, you can (and probably will) get cancer. These are not secrets that have come to light long after the fact either, we've known that smoking is bad for you for bloody decades - if you're my age and a smoker, you absolutely cannot claim ignorance, you knew full well exactly how bad for you smoking was before you started.

So you've intentionally picked up a habit that comes with a hefty load of health detriments at best, or cancer/death at worst, knowing that you would be subject to those health detriments and/or cancer and death as a direct result of your decision, and you made that decision anyways - congratulations! You've just demonstrated an astounding lack of common sense! This is basically the reason behind any ludicrously stupid thing people do that flies in the face of all common sense and instincts for self-preservation.

Of course, people do all kinds of insanely dangerous things, and there is always an element of risk involved with even relatively mundane activities, so it is worth pointing out that it is one thing to live dangerously and flirt with death (extreme sports type stuff, where the risk is mitigated somewhat by proper safety procedures), and another thing entirely to watch Jackass and decide to reproduce those stunts at home, ignoring the warnings that make it very clear that you should never do that for any reason because that would be STUPID. The decision to start smoking, in defiance of decades of medical research telling you "That is a terrible idea" is clearly on the "Jackass" side of the spectrum.

But hey, if you're dead set on killing yourself through your own willful stupidity, at least smoking generally takes a while. Flinging yourself into the side of a barn via home-made catapult, while far more amusing for everyone who is not the flingee, does tend to be rather more immediately fatal.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

Wait. Wait! I'm not trying to hang shit on smokers here. I ask purely out of curiosity.

So... I understand why people continue to smoke once they have started. Granted, my understanding is only theoretical since I have never personally touched a cigarette, but I understand the basic mechanics of chemical addiction.

But what I do not understand is why someone who is not addicted would start in the first place.

I've asked several real life acquaintances, but they all just shrugged it off or said something like, "I was young and stupid." But those don't strike me as satisfactory answers.

See, if a person started smoking any time in the last 20 years they likely would have known exactly what they were getting into. So long as they were over the age of twelve, they would have known that smoking is addictive. They would have known that cigarettes are expensive. They would have known that they are harmful.

Furthermore, people I know who smoke tell me that the first time they did it, it made them feel sick. Some of them said that they threw up afterwards. Now I would have thought that would be a pretty clear sign that something isn't doing you any good. If I ate some food that made me feel ill I sure as hell wouldn't go back for seconds.

And yet, people still take up smoking.

Why?

Alot of times, it starts up as a social thing. Some people HAVE to have a cigarette, if they are out having a few beers, or something. I started because it helped relax me, when I was extremely stressed out, then I got hooked on them. I recently quit, and had been off them completely for about 7 months, when some things happened that I wound up picking up the habit again. Now I have to basically start over, and try to quit again. I know its unhealthy, and I am planning on kicking it to the curb again after this week, come hell or highwater.

 

[iLikeHippos]

I suppose it's a reason to get out of the house and a 'social' thing to do. When else can you walk outside with a certain someone and talk?
Oh wait...

Granted, it's a dumb thing to do. But than again, what hobby isn't? (I see smoking as a hobby.) Just playing games strikes off time you could had used socializing and gained a better life all around.

I like to think that the majority of us game in our natural "down time" anyway, so you're not really losing out - can't be out and about with others 24/7. Smoking just kills you, slowly.

OT: I dunno, people say it relieves stress and stuff, but my understanding is that it raises your stress levels the rest of the time, and then when you smoke it brings you back down to a "normal" level of stress, so its not really helping in any way.

Yepp, but the trick here is how much you do it. Some smoke daily, but others just do it once in a while. Some game daily, but others... A bit much.

All in all... Never abuse. Ruins the fun and other things.

 

[Nieroshai]

Same reason I play games.

It occupies my time.

It keeps my hands and mouth busy.

I feel weird if I'm not doing something with either my hands, mouth, or both.

[sub]Don't get any ideas...[/sub]

Same here, but I chew gum and fiddle with pens, both of which are harmless.

 

[Kecunk]

Because despite what some people say, smoking still makes you look cool.

 

[Direwolf750]

I suppose it's a reason to get out of the house and a 'social' thing to do. When else can you walk outside with a certain someone and talk?
Oh wait...

Granted, it's a dumb thing to do. But than again, what hobby isn't? (I see smoking as a hobby.) Just playing games strikes off time you could had used socializing and gained a better life all around.

but playing video games can enrich your vocabulary, make you new friends, show you new ways to think about things, and increase you problem solving capabilities. The military found that playing call of duty helps you distinguish between different shades of gray...such as camouflage...