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The New Smoking (2021)

conorbroderick.net

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Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#71

Post by cratermoon »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #20
thecatspaw wrote: post #12

A new-to-me term I learned recently which I feel quite nicely relates to this post is Consumer neuroscience. Wikipedia clinically describes the field as "The goal of the field is to find neural explanations for consumer behaviors in individuals both with or without disease." Personally I have a less favourable description of it. How to make people addicted to your product, and spend more money than they should.

BJ Fogg [1] is someone who could have contributed to our recent "Things you built and regret" thread. His "Persuasive Computers" paper gets blamed (for example by Tristan Harris) for the explosion of attention economics. That's perhaps unfair as his Tiny Habits work seemed geared toward wellbeing. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._J._Fogg

Fogg was pretty early in identifying some of the risks, although at the time (late 90s) I don't believe he took them seriously. One of the earliest critics from inside the industry, that I can find, was Joe Kraus, a partner at Google Ventures. You can watch his 2012 (I think) talk at https://vimeo.com/240721308

ETA Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr, 2008

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#72

Post by DavidPiper »

Surprised not to see Cal Newport's "Digital Minimalism" on the list - though the author may just not know about it.

I finished the audiobook yesterday, and highly recommend it. When framed against the active, intentional social media strategies suggested in the book, the argument that "normal, every-day" social media usage is just like smoking becomes very persuasive.

EDIT: Also recommend "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. It's about television, but every salient point applies directly to modern social media as well.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#73

Post by adastra22 »

program_whiz wrote: post #57

Not to be pedantic, but smoking is actually the new smoking. Its just now being normalized through weed (which is rationalized as healthy or cool) and vaping (which is seen as less harmful than smoking cigarettes). The sheer number of smoke shops has exploded.

Yeah it really bugs me how inconsiderate weed and vaping smokers can be. I’ve had weed smokers casually walk by my family blowing smoke everywhere without care, like this was the 1950’s. In a sense this is even worse as not only did I not agree to me or my kids breathing in this cancerous cloud of smoke, but it is psychoactive too.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#74

Post by gumby »

I miss smoking (well, not really; I'm not a smoker). But all the rituals around it were very important for modulating the cadence and even nature of conversation, offering shared rituals, give-and-take, and, by convention, forced but acceptable pauses.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#75

Post by [deleted] »

ekanes wrote: post #45

Something that’s helped in a “high leverage” way is interrupting the impulse to open an app that takes me into glazed eyes territory, or “licking the phone” as I describe it to my kids. :) None of the kids actually want to waste time on social media… but we all still struggle with it. I ran across an (iOS) app that they've come to accept and even appreciate. Rather than blocking apps completely, it adds a pause of ma…

[deleted]

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#76

Post by minitoar »

adastra22 wrote: post #73
program_whiz wrote: post #57

Not to be pedantic, but smoking is actually the new smoking. Its just now being normalized through weed (which is rationalized as healthy or cool) and vaping (which is seen as less harmful than smoking cigarettes). The sheer number of smoke shops has exploded.

Yeah it really bugs me how inconsiderate weed and vaping smokers can be. I’ve had weed smokers casually walk by my family blowing smoke everywhere without care, like this was the 1950’s. In a sense this is even worse as not only did I not agree to me or my kids breathing in this cancerous cloud of smoke, but it is psychoactive too.

Minor nitpick: nicotine is also psychoactive.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#77

Post by hardwaresofton »

program_whiz wrote: post #57

Not to be pedantic, but smoking is actually the new smoking. Its just now being normalized through weed (which is rationalized as healthy or cool) and vaping (which is seen as less harmful than smoking cigarettes). The sheer number of smoke shops has exploded.

Yeah, I thought this was going to be about vape pens.

God bless humanity, almost got rid of the vice completely only to have a reincarnation absolutely plunge a new generation into addiction.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#78

Post by scarface74 »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #77
program_whiz wrote: post #57

Not to be pedantic, but smoking is actually the new smoking. Its just now being normalized through weed (which is rationalized as healthy or cool) and vaping (which is seen as less harmful than smoking cigarettes). The sheer number of smoke shops has exploded.

Yeah, I thought this was going to be about vape pens. God bless humanity, almost got rid of the vice completely only to have a reincarnation absolutely plunge a new generation into addiction.

The vice was the war on drugs that was disproportionately applied to minorities. Legalizing weed is taking one weapon out of the arsenal of the police state.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#79

Post by iisan7 »

gumby wrote: post #74

I miss smoking (well, not really; I'm not a smoker). But all the rituals around it were very important for modulating the cadence and even nature of conversation, offering shared rituals, give-and-take, and, by convention, forced but acceptable pauses.

Interesting point, re the pauses to take a drag on a cigarette. The only thing I can think of like that now in a workplace or chance social encounter is taking a drink of water or coffee, but I suppose it hasn't really replaced smoking. Maybe carrying a small water flask to give ourselves moments to pause meaningfully in a conversation!

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#80

Post by bogomipz »

googlryas wrote: post #69
program_whiz wrote: post #57

Not to be pedantic, but smoking is actually the new smoking. Its just now being normalized through weed (which is rationalized as healthy or cool) and vaping (which is seen as less harmful than smoking cigarettes). The sheer number of smoke shops has exploded.

Smoke shops have exploded but it isn't clear to me that there is higher availability - every convenience store in the US sold cigarettes and most still do. Even pharmacies like CVS/Walgreens used to sell them. I think just now you have dedicated storefronts for certain types of smoking products.

I think the difference is that cigarettes and packaging were almost completely uniform - the same size and footprint regardless of brand. As such they were relatively easy for stores to maintain. I think the sheer variety and variability of vaping hardware and packaging almost requires a dedicated smoke shop to be able to service customers.
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