4 ms·
> It is amazing how much more people care about their hair and skin in comparison to, say, their blood vessels when it comes to aging. It is amazing, but not s
by junto 11y ago
> It is amazing how much more people care about their hair and skin in comparison to, say, their blood vessels when it comes to aging.
It is amazing, but not surprising. People are vastly more reactive to the things that provide immediate feedback.
What we see, hear, touch and taste provide feedback that is simple for people to process and understand.
Appreciation of long term future loss or damage is not programmed into humans particularly well. We are biologically designed to worry about the present, we dwell on the past (far too much), and the future is something that might never happen (the old adage; you might be hit by a bus).
We see this every day with people that smoke cigarettes. Every single smoker knows that smoking is going to put them in an early grave, but they still continue, because the short term pleasure to the senses, outweighs the perceived long term risk.
- noir_lord 11y ago> Every single smoker knows that smoking is going to put them in an early grave, but they still continue, because the short term pleasure to the senses, outweighs the perceived long term risk. Hits home. Quit 5 years ago, knew all the risks, evidence etc none of that worked, my mum a heavy smoker ending up in the cardiac unit at 54 was what finally did it (turned out to be nothing serious), I stopped on my 30th birthday and never touched another one. Had my mum not ended up in hospital the week before my 30th birthday (which does make you take stock) I think I'd still be smoking today.
- jtblin 11y agoTrue except there is not really short term pleasure with cigarettes smoking, just a temporary relief of craving.
- baudehlo 11y agoFor many the pleasure is just the break from the norm (a chance to leave their desk and go outside). A poor excuse but it is what it is.
- girvo 11y agoI don't know, even after smoking for a few years I could still "feel" it, beyond just the cessation of craving; it's the same feeling I get when I use nicotine lozenges sublingually for focus (which I do at most once a week to avoid tolerance)
- gnaritas 11y agoNo. There's pleasure.
- junto 11y agoIndeed. I'm also an ex-smoker. Many of my friends are doctors and nurses. Many of them smoke. The irony is almost tragic.