Cigarettes: The worlds first social network.

I don't like the way society has gone, technology for all of it's myriad of uses has inevitably had drawbacks (All good things in moderation as they say) and social media in my opinion has been whats spiking up the level of young people suffering from anxiety, depression, cognitive bias and straight up poor social skills.

I started a new job in a cinema recently and after a day or two i decided to go down to the staff room for lunch (instead of having a cigarette outside) to socialize with the people that i'd be working with, i walked into the staff room where six people were sitting, all of their heads craned downwards as they glared at their screens. I proceeded to introduce myself to them and i'd say about four out of the six actually looked up for a fraction of a second to say hello before the weight of their addiction caused their heads to drop back down to their devices, google gravity seems like a fitting term for this.Unacceptable.

I could only handle the disgusting silence for two minutes before i decided to head outside and bum a smoke, partially for the nicotine but mostly for the human interaction and lo and behold it worked like a charm, i met a global warming non believer and we discussed it over a cigarette it was fascinating, hilarious and troubling all at the same time, an insight into the mind of a stranger that never would have been possible with the limitations of social media.

That interaction got the gears turning in my noggin and i thought to myself "cigarettes, the first social network that truly brings people of all beliefs together" but how long has this been going on for? What do scientists say on the social benefits of smoking? Lets explore....

From what i can gauge via various other articles, smoking goes back as far as 4000BC in the Americas as part of shamanistic rituals where different plant derived tobacco's served different purposes but for the sake of brevity i'll be mentioning the one most relatable which is Mapacho (when translated roughly describes a cigar sized paper cigarette albeit far more potent than any modern cigarette) and was used by people in order to "clear the energy field of a person seeking balance and realignment". Which strikes me as interesting seeing as so many people today when asked "why do you smoke?" say that it "Takes the edge off and relaxes them" which i guess could be interpreted as clearing ones "energy field" and "finding balance".

But it was also part of a group ritual, an interaction with others and so the relationship between smoking and social interactions dates back as far as 4000BC in the Americas and evidence of marijuana being smoked in the middle east through hookahs around 5000BC before tobacco arrived there as part of a social activity, there are plenty more examples of historical smoking for a plethora of different reasons but discussing them all in detail would take forever. My point is that through thousands of years, societal interactions and spiritual interactions are bound together with smoking that it's in the human psyche to relate them together. But what have modern scientists said about the process?

Well to be fair i can't find a whole pile of modern day social scientists willing to divulge their thoughts on the matter seeing as smoking is so heavily stigmatized in this day and age that doing so would probably result in their credibility being somewhat tarnished, i've found a few discussing health benefits (though any health benefits derived from smoking are quickly countered with cancer, heart disease etc killing people like flies). I have however discovered a paper published by Dr. Sherwin Feinhandler back in the 1980's when the whole thing was less taboo a topic.

Feinhandler's paper "the social role of smoking" stated that cigarettes....

-allow people to “express an image”.

-“enhance positive emotional states” and help people “to relax and to minimize feelings of anxiety or stress”.

-“smoking provides boundary mediation between personal and group space” while “reinforcing” certain peer relationships.

-“segments time,” marking the beginning or end of an event.

Being a former full time smoker turned casual i can relate to all of these although i'm somewhat reluctant to admit that it was part of "expressing an image" nobody wants to think that their being "cool" because doing so makes it considerably less "cool" however i'd be lying if i said it wasn't some of the appeal at the beginning... ah i'm a sap.

And please, by writing this i am in no way advocating smoking as a good habit to have, all i'm saying is that i'd rather be riddled with cancer and emphysema if thats what it took to meet new people and discover new stories than to bury my head in the cesspit of social media and thus so cut myself off from the limitless possibilities of new and exciting social interactions.

Any thoughts on this article? Any similar stories of the downward spiral of society? Anything i could have done better when writing it? Anything at all? Please do let me know down below as i'm always seeking outside opinions on what i put out there in order to get better at doing so.

Yours sincerely

Omalleyo