The Spread of Juul Popularity
Networks Blog #3: The Price of Cool: A Teenager, a Juul and Nicotine Addiction
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion around Juuls and teenage usage. A Juul is an e-cigarette that has become very popular among young adults who, having gone through years of health classes, know better than to smoke actual cigarettes. The article is about a young man named Matt who talks about how he encountered Juul resulting in his nicotine addiction. Matt was first offered a Juul at a high school party, surrounded by people who were taking hits themselves. He was pressured to try it and the euphoria he felt led to his addiction. Matt is not the only teen/young adult that has come into contact with Juul. In fact, teens make up more than 70 percent of the e-cigarette sales in the US right now. Many of the health effects on developing teens and their brains are still unknown since the produce is so new. Because of this, in the past few weeks and months, the Food and Drug Administration has banned the teen targeted advertisements in efforts to make the spread of this product diminish.
This article demonstrates several topics we have discussed in class: cascades and epidemics. The cascading aspect should be rather obvious in that the spread of Juul happened so quickly and effectively because friends and social pressures were often the reasons for a person to try it. The more friends you have that do it, the more likely you are to try it as well. Along with the advertisements from the Juul company, the spread of this product is increased as well. As for the epidemic aspect, we can see that in how quickly the Juul spread. In only a few years since the product release, it has spread rapidly all over the US especially on college campuses. The FDA’s attempt to limit the selling of Juuls to minors is an example of trying to control this “outbreak.” Lastly, research is also currently being conducted to better understand Juul and the possible negative effects on teens. Information from this study could possibly serve as more ways to restrict the spread/”epidemic” of Juul usage.