In Nigeria, it is rare to see teenagers puffing off cigarette smokes while walking down the streets. But this doesn’t mean they don’t do it. You’d be surprised to realize how many teenagers you know who actually smoke cigarettes and even Indian hemp. They hide away in secret places where no one can see them and then they smoke until they are high. Most often, these young ones are oblivious of the health hazards associated with smoking; hence, the reason why they do it. And another unfortunate thing is that most teenagers who smoke do so out of Peer Pressure.
So why do teenagers smoke? Well, as mentioned briefly above, succumbing to Peer Pressure is definitely one reason why. These teenagers have friends who smoke and who will pressure them to try out the experience. Overtime, this pressure mounts even as they are given the condition of trying smoking or forfeiting friendship. This makes them succumb to the deadly lifestyle which can be so difficult to break.
Asides Peer Pressure, curiosity is another reason why teenagers smoke. When teenagers have people around them who smoke (say parents or elderly ones they look up to), overtime the curiosity is likely to grow. And when teenagers are curious, there is hardly anything that can stop them from satisfying that curiosity. So they go ahead to try out smoking in order to find out what it feels like. And in so doing, they become addicted to it even though there is really nothing they gain from the bad habit.
A lot of teenagers also smoke because to them it looks cool to smoke. Boys often must prove their masculinity to their friends by smoking; otherwise they are regarded as sissies. Sadly, there are lots of external factors are encouraging young people to grab their first cigarette smoke. It can be quite difficult to avoid smoking when teens are exposed to the notion that smoking is kind of cool. Unfortunately, even though cigarette ads are considerably censored, teenagers are confronted with such ads almost on a daily basis. These ads portray people smoking and communicating the idea that smoking is a cool thing. Teenagers easily imbibe such messages.
But there are so many health risk factors that can accrue as a result of smoking. The list is endless, therefore just a few will be mentioned. Consider cardiovascular diseases, stroke, mouth odour etc. These should scare any smoker to quit now than later. And for anybody who might be considering becoming a smoker anytime, the advice to you is DON’T.
