Information does not prevent generation Z from trying cigarettes – 06/03/2023 – Equilíbrio

João Vitor Bitetti, 18, started smoking at age 14 under the influence of friends at school. “I always knew it was bad, but I was kind of rebellious,” he says.

Over time, the clothing designer began to feel lonely, which intensified the habit. “My long-term health wasn’t a concern. I thought if I fixed my loneliness that would be enough.”

Today, João understands that the immediate pleasure and opportunities for socializing that the habit brings outweigh the damage to health. The young man considers that, despite the anti-smoking campaigns, there is still a positive image linked to cigarettes, which ends up causing interest.

João is among the 6.4% of his age group (18 to 24 years old) who smoke in Brazil, according to the 2021 Vigitel (Surveillance of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey). years and represents half of what was observed in 2006, the first year of the research, when the group totaled 12%.

Young Brazilians of Generation Z –born between 1995 and 2010– grew up amid anti-smoking campaigns in the country, with information about the consequences of addiction circulating since childhood.

According to experts, the reduction in the number of young smokers is remarkable. However, contact with tobacco and nicotine in other forms, such as electronic cigarettes, in addition to a permissive culture regarding smoking, still maintains this habit among adolescents and young adults.

According to Ivan Mario Braun, a physician at the IPq-USP (Institute of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo), the prevalence of young people experimenting with cigarettes is still high. The reasons that lead to curiosity are of a social nature, and range from product glamor to peer pressure, he says.

“The social image of cigarettes has changed a lot in recent years, much of that glamor has been transferred to other drugs, such as marijuana”, points out Braun. Cigarettes, however, still promote high social permeability, and the industry’s reinventions in relation to the form of consumption keep many young people interested in tobacco.

“Having information doesn’t necessarily preclude experimentation,” says Braun. “Human beings are unlikely to stop doing things because of consequences that may come in the future.”

Vitor Coutinho, 23, didn’t think he would get hooked. The quick relief of stress promoted by the habit and social interaction were attractive. “I never had a good image of cigarettes, I was always discouraged. But it’s like falling into temptation”, he says.

What started out as an occasional hit on get-togethers with friends has become a hard-to-kick addiction.

“I think that anti-smoking campaigns work and less and less young people like cigarettes, but there is still this cultural image that influences”, he ponders.

According to Paulo Corrêa, coordinator of the Scientific Commission on Smoking of the Brazilian Society of Pulmonology and Phthisiology, experimenting with cigarettes during adolescence is worrisome because the earlier a young person starts smoking, the harder it is to stop.

The habit is also harmful in youth because, in addition to being a drug with a high addictive potential, it influences neurological development.

“Young people have a certain immediacy in obtaining pleasure and today they have contact with nicotine in different ways”, he says.

For the specialist, it is necessary to modify the placement of anti-smoking campaigns to reach the target audience with greater precision. Examples are the use of social networks and investment in projects involving schools.

In addition, strategies aimed at increasing the price of cigarettes are seen as positive, since they can cause a decrease in consumption.

“There are also few places specialized in the treatment of smoking in adolescents”, says Corrêa, who considers important initiatives that focus on the impacts of the habit among younger people.