For my final project, I really wanted to shine some light on a topic that is dismissed very often. Smoking. But most importantly Social Smoking.
When I was younger, I found myself taking packs of cigarettes from my moms purse to dispose of them, hoping it would make her smoke less. Even at such a young age, I knew of the health risks that could become if my mom kept smoking cigarettes. I remember trying to do the same to my grandmothers cigarettes, but she really couldn’t live without the nasty habit. I tried my very best to stay away from cigarettes during high school, I was doing really well until senior year came along. Suddenly, the stress of SAT exams and college application hit me, and the occasional cigarette slipped out to comfort me. One turned into a few, and a few turned into a pack and I quickly picked up on the identities of smoking cigarettes. You have the “Addicted Smoker”, the “In Control Smoker”, the “No big deal Smoker”, the “Proud Smoker”, and then you have what I fell under, “The Social Smoker”.
For this project, I took photos of my friend smoking a cigarette and advertised social smoking as what it stands in society, a free pass. Social Smoking is is known as a social acitivity that takes place in contempoprary society. Studied found that 25% of young adults believe that smoking on occasion isnt harmful.
This was based on my research that within the field of psychology and conformity, It has been said that in a social setting, people are more likely to conform to what others around them are doing. If three or more people that partake in the same activity are known to be conforming to it, then the rest will follow. This is why most social smokers only smoke in groups. Social Smokers are more likely to be addicted to smoking instead of nicotine. Yet regardless of these facts, Smoking is still smoking
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