Why Do People Smoke?

Despite the well-known danger of smoking, people continue to take up the habit. Why do people smoke? What could possibly motivate someone to spend hard-earned money on a substance which stains their teeth, their fingers, their clothes, causes bad breath, and destroys their health?

Many people start smoking when they are teenagers. It goes without saying that the teenage years are a difficult transition between childhood and the responsibilities of adulthood. Social acceptance is very important to most teenagers, and there can be a lot of pressure to join the crowd.

Danger of Smoking

So teenagers may start smoking in order to fit in, or they may do it as an act of rebellion against their parents and teachers. Most teenagers know about the danger of smoking. After all, school hallways are lined with photographs of blackened lungs, and the danger of smoking is taught in health classes.

Despite all these warnings, teenagers continue to take up the habit of smoking. Aside from peer pressure and rebellion, this may have something to do with the typical teenage belief in immortality. Unless they have had first-hand experience with death, most teenagers simply do not believe that they can die.

This rather short-term outlook on life also explains why people in certain professions are more likely to be smokers. Researchers have identified life outlook as one of the factors behind the smoking habit. Those with short life outlooks are more likely to be smokers than those with a long-term outlook.

Generally speaking, people who are involved in the arts (musicians, dancers, and artists) have shorter outlooks on life because the present moment is more import to their activities. This is in contrast to people in professions such as engineering or computer science who tend to have a broader outlook. And guess what? Artists are more likely to be smokers than scientists.

Images of Smoking

There are many factors that motivate human behavior. Smoking is reinforced by popular images of the independent rebel, or the fun-loving group of friends who enjoy themselves while smoking cigarettes. These are images that the tobacco companies use in their advertising, and it is often repeated in TV shows and movies.

All of these images and ideas contributes to the appeal of smoking. Teenagers, with their typical lack of self-awareness, are more vulnerable to these influences, and therefore more likely to take up smoking than adults.

For whatever reasons they started, most smokers, at some point in their life, realize that cigarettes are harming their health. At this point, they are physically addicted to nicotine and find it difficult to stop smoking.

Nevertheless, it is possible to quit smoking. There are many resources to help you quit smoking. These range from nicotine substitutes such as patches or gum to behavior therapy which help you overcome the habit of smoking.

Even though it is difficult to quit smoking, millions of people have done so. Do not give up in your quest to free yourself of cigarettes. This website is dedicated to helping you quit smoking, and we offer you information and resources to help you in your life-affirming decision to stop smoking.