5 ms·

Fast food addiction, free-refill-fueled soda addiction, tobacco addiction, weakly trained near universal use of automobiles for daily travel, and unequal access

by lrvick 1y ago

Fast food addiction, free-refill-fueled soda addiction, tobacco addiction, weakly trained near universal use of automobiles for daily travel, and unequal access to healthcare are staples of American culture so I am only surprised the spread is not worse. This has very little to do with location or genetics and everything to do with education and culture.

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marcandre 1y ago
Europeans smoke more than Americans
- throwaway290 1y ago
  Fact. However the top smokers like Serbia also score lower on life expectancy
- magicalhippo 1y ago
  Depends on country I think. At least here in Norway, after the ban on smoking indoors at public places like restaurants and bars 20 years ago, smoking went way down. When I visited New York a few years ago I was shocked about how much smoking there was everywhere. Of course, people didn't quit nicotine entirely, many moving to snus[1] instead. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus
  - pseudocomposer 1y ago
    I was shocked at the amount of smoking I saw in Copenhagen 3 years ago. And I live in Durham, North Carolina, a historically tobacco city, whose nickname (Bull Durham or the Bull City) literally comes from old tobacco ads.
    - magicalhippo 1y ago
      Yea, then again Danes have been quite liberal with alcohol and such in comparison with Norway, perhaps a common theme there. But yes, varies greatly between countries. Since it's "only" been 20 years since the ban here, I'm curious to see if the numbers diverge more in the coming decades, or not.
  - Ancapistani 1y ago
    Interestingly, I haven't been able to find a single study that shows long-term use of snus leads to health complications -- at least, not where snus was split out from smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption.
andrepd 1y ago
> Fast food addiction, free-refill-fueled soda addiction, tobacco addiction, weakly trained near universal use of automobiles for daily travel, and unequal access to healthcare are staples of American culture Every one of those points is also true in Europe (apart from possibly healthcare), unfortunately. Car dependency and car-centric development is almost everywhere, places like the Netherlands are an outlier. Fast food and ads thereof are also everywhere. Many people smoke. Etc.
- throwaway290 1y ago
  Never been to US but saying car centric development in Europe is similar to US sounds crazy to me. It's not just Netherlands. Vienna, Budapest, Stockholm, Barcelona, Germany and Switzerland... is it really true people in America take buses and trains as often as in those places? and they are also so well maintained? is it just propaganda that public transport in US sucks outside of maybe NYC
  - danaris 1y ago
    It is absolutely not propaganda. I live in a rural village about 5 hours' drive from NYC. There is no public transport here. If I drive 45 minutes to the nearest city, I can catch a train—but that train will only take me to a few destinations (primarily Albany, NYC, or Boston one way, or Buffalo, Chicago and points west the other way). Some cities (outside of major metropolitan areas, which do generally have some kind of rail system) have intracity buses, but they tend to be underfunded and dirty.
    - throwaway290 1y ago
      Yeah. I just picked random two small villages in Italy 200 km apart and Google maps says 4-5 hr by public transport, yes a few interchanges but you barely need to walk less than 10 minutes total. I remember being impressed with european public transport (after what we have in russia) and this rings true. Then I picked two random Missouri townships 83 miles away and it's 40 min by car and no route at all by any public transport. even if I chose so that both of them are on the same big 4 lane road!
spacemadness 1y ago
Are you a time traveler? Tobacco addiction hasn’t been rampant since the 90s and it was dying out then. It is certainly not a staple of American culture. Agreed that it’s not genetics. That’s just silly.
- ethbr1 1y ago
  How old are people who were smoking in the 90s, today?
  - lrvick 1y ago
    Exactly. I have had multiple people I was close to die due to smoking created health issues in the last decade. Even if smoking is not as prevalent today, we are paying the price for it now.
- Ancapistani 1y ago
  Eh - "tobacco" addiction is likely on the way out, but "nicotine" addiction likely isn't.
  - _DeadFred_ 1y ago
    A cup of coffee and a cig is now a Starbucks milkshake and a chinese disposable battery powered addiction feeding machine putting a cloud of I have no idea what into my lungs. The future is cyberpunk AF.
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by lrvick 1y ago

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marcandre 1y ago

Europeans smoke more than Americans

throwaway290 1y ago
Fact. However the top smokers like Serbia also score lower on life expectancy
magicalhippo 1y ago
Depends on country I think. At least here in Norway, after the ban on smoking indoors at public places like restaurants and bars 20 years ago, smoking went way down. When I visited New York a few years ago I was shocked about how much smoking there was everywhere. Of course, people didn't quit nicotine entirely, many moving to snus[1] instead. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus
- pseudocomposer 1y ago
  I was shocked at the amount of smoking I saw in Copenhagen 3 years ago. And I live in Durham, North Carolina, a historically tobacco city, whose nickname (Bull Durham or the Bull City) literally comes from old tobacco ads.
  - magicalhippo 1y ago
    Yea, then again Danes have been quite liberal with alcohol and such in comparison with Norway, perhaps a common theme there. But yes, varies greatly between countries. Since it's "only" been 20 years since the ban here, I'm curious to see if the numbers diverge more in the coming decades, or not.
- Ancapistani 1y ago
  Interestingly, I haven't been able to find a single study that shows long-term use of snus leads to health complications -- at least, not where snus was split out from smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption.

andrepd 1y ago

> Fast food addiction, free-refill-fueled soda addiction, tobacco addiction, weakly trained near universal use of automobiles for daily travel, and unequal access to healthcare are staples of American culture Every one of those points is also true in Europe (apart from possibly healthcare), unfortunately. Car dependency and car-centric development is almost everywhere, places like the Netherlands are an outlier. Fast food and ads thereof are also everywhere. Many people smoke. Etc.

throwaway290 1y ago
Never been to US but saying car centric development in Europe is similar to US sounds crazy to me. It's not just Netherlands. Vienna, Budapest, Stockholm, Barcelona, Germany and Switzerland... is it really true people in America take buses and trains as often as in those places? and they are also so well maintained? is it just propaganda that public transport in US sucks outside of maybe NYC
- danaris 1y ago
  It is absolutely not propaganda. I live in a rural village about 5 hours' drive from NYC. There is no public transport here. If I drive 45 minutes to the nearest city, I can catch a train—but that train will only take me to a few destinations (primarily Albany, NYC, or Boston one way, or Buffalo, Chicago and points west the other way). Some cities (outside of major metropolitan areas, which do generally have some kind of rail system) have intracity buses, but they tend to be underfunded and dirty.
  - throwaway290 1y ago
    Yeah. I just picked random two small villages in Italy 200 km apart and Google maps says 4-5 hr by public transport, yes a few interchanges but you barely need to walk less than 10 minutes total. I remember being impressed with european public transport (after what we have in russia) and this rings true. Then I picked two random Missouri townships 83 miles away and it's 40 min by car and no route at all by any public transport. even if I chose so that both of them are on the same big 4 lane road!

spacemadness 1y ago

Are you a time traveler? Tobacco addiction hasn’t been rampant since the 90s and it was dying out then. It is certainly not a staple of American culture. Agreed that it’s not genetics. That’s just silly.

ethbr1 1y ago
How old are people who were smoking in the 90s, today?
- lrvick 1y ago
  Exactly. I have had multiple people I was close to die due to smoking created health issues in the last decade. Even if smoking is not as prevalent today, we are paying the price for it now.
Ancapistani 1y ago
Eh - "tobacco" addiction is likely on the way out, but "nicotine" addiction likely isn't.
- _DeadFred_ 1y ago
  A cup of coffee and a cig is now a Starbucks milkshake and a chinese disposable battery powered addiction feeding machine putting a cloud of I have no idea what into my lungs. The future is cyberpunk AF.

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