4 ms·

I think it’s closer to smoking. All the cool kids do it, minimal buzz/reward, takes lots of time/money, totally addictive.

• eyelidlessness 4y ago
  I’m 40 so I grew up with the “cool kids” narrative. But the only time I ever experienced it was when my brother pressured me once. I started smoking because I was bored out of my mind one day and the opportunity was available. Smokers were never the “cool kids” in my experience, at least not any more than football players or drama club. Everything else you say is spot on, although the “reward” is a very nuanced minimal for me… it’s something I can go do privately by myself for a few minutes without needing to explain that. It’s probably the biggest conscious tie I still have to the habit.
• watwut 4y ago
  The rewards of smoking were social but not in making you cool. It was that smoking made it easy to find somebody to chat with and start contact. Smokers met outside, borrowed each other fire or gave cigarettes and became acquitances and friends. It was quick and easy. Not smokers took longer to get to know each other and it was harder. But it was nit about cool factor all that much.