Cascade of Cigarette Use in light of Vaping Concerns
Following the explosion of news of vaping-related deaths and illnesses, people have started smoking cigarettes, instead. The astronomical rise of vaping was, itself, mostly a cascade resulting from people copying the decisions of their peers to vape. This occurred mostly in middle schools, high schools, and colleges where the amount of young people vaping grew exponentially. The recency of the phenomenon resulted in people vaping without being aware of the consequences of vaping on their health. Vaping was marketed as an alternative to cigarettes by providing a similar rush of nicotine without the concerns of lung cancer and other health detriments of cigarettes. However, the news of the recent lethal consequences of vaping has created a reverse cascade where the same network effects that led to the rise of vaping might now lead to its downfall. The Post chronicles the situation of a college junior to describe that the same group of friends that were all vaping are now going back to cigarettes as information against vaping is being publicized, and people are scared of the unknown harms of e-cigarettes. The Post elaborates that similar cascades are occurring all throughout the country as e-cigarette sales are slowing down and cigarette sales are creeping up. Despite the health concerns of cigarettes, they currently seem like the lesser of two evils as their consequences have been well documented for years.
The switch to using cigarettes is an example of how network effects can cause significant changes in a very short period of time. Vaping used to be the popular thing to do, however, recent information has increased scrutiny on vaping and created a paranoia around it. Spurred by social media’s panic over the unknown health consequences of vaping and the spread of vaping horror stories, people have cascaded back into using cigarettes because of the paranoia. People are largely ignoring the health detriments of smoking and most likely aren’t evaluating smoking against vaping, but are instead, following the norm of vilifying vaping and seeking cigarettes as an alternative. Such cascades sparked by current events are able to be spread far more easily because of the internet and social media and are causing individual people to influence entire groups. Most people are simply following the cascade of others around them when making decisions and doing what is considered popular at the moment.
https://nypost.com/2019/10/25/people-are-smoking-cigarettes-again-amid-vaping-related-panic/