Vaping

Hello beautiful people! This week, I will be blogging about a very hot topic: vaping. Recently, vaping has been popularized, and marketed as a “healthy replacement” for regular old-fashioned cigarettes. Although I’m not as into this topic/issue as my friends whose kids are teenagers, I do have a seven year old son who is growing up in this culture and generation, so I still feel a responsibility to understand vaping. 

From what I’ve been researching, I’ve come to understand that vaping started becoming popular in around 2015, as cigarettes began to hit its decline. It also doesn’t surprise me that teens and young adults make up most of the audience for e-cigarettes. They make you feel “cool” and relaxed, and that’s all teens are looking for. I remember when I was in high school, I did whatever I could to fit in and be “cool”. On top of this, my identity crisis as a wasian made things even worse. Naturally, I tried to wear clothes in line with the latest trends, and to watch the shows that everyone else watched. In the same way, I’m sure that vaping is used simply as a means to fit in. Anyways, back to what I’ve been researching. Surprisingly enough, companies are moving on from vaping products, and recommending other nicotine mediums that are even more risk free. This is because studies have insufficient evidence that vaping is effective, and won’t produce other grave side-effects.

For example, one of my best friend’s little sister has a friend who has a friend who went viral on the internet because of a vaping related incident (how sad :’c). In her instagram post, she (Claire) details her life threatening incidence as a e-cigarette, juul, vape, wax/oil cartridge user. She tells a story of how she had a high fever for three weeks, and after being hospitalized, she found out that her lungs were completely inflamed and that her lung tissue was heavily damaged. She firmly states that her experience was not worth the use of “something as stupid as a nicotine device”, and warns people to stay away from these things. She says, “Just because you can’t feel it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. You don’t understand regret until your doctors are staring you in the face telling you they don’t know if they can save your life, knowing in your head that you willingly brought it upon yourself despite countless warnings to stop”. From Claire’s post, it’s clear that incidences like hers aren’t common, and I’m predicting a slow downfall of nicotine devices as more and more cases like this rise in social media. Feels an awful lot similar to the downfall of the cigarette. I guess this is comforting to hear as a mother of a seven year old. When my son Jeremiah reaches middle school or high school, I’m hoping that the influence of nicotine devices aren’t as strong as they are today. So in conclusion, no matter how safe you think vaping is, please rethink and consider the harm you are doing to your body, and think of Claire’s story!