In The Tipping Point, chapter seven Malcolm Gladwell talked about suicide, smoking, and the search for the unsticky cigarettes. Malcolm Gladwell writes about the affects each epidemic has on a person. He compares Micronesian teens and teen smokers in America by classifying them as an infectious epidemic of peer pressure, self-destruction, rebellion, and engaged in for experimentation purposes. In Gladwell’s book, he talks about the way we should relay information to others on prevention. In his opinion he believes the current strategies being used to stop American teens is not working. I agree with this because when trying to educate a teen on what not to do, teens are more likely not going to listen to the authority figure. In regards toward …show more content…
Smoking’s tipping point can be classified as how society, friends, and family can effects the way we look at cigarettes. Another Smoking tipping point is determining if someone is addicted or if someone is a chipper. A chipper is a person who can be classified as a social smoker. They do it but don’t need a cigarette every day. Chapter seven stuck out to me the most because I have experienced these three Case studies in some form.
When reading the story about a Micronesian boy named Sima who hung himself because of family problems it reminded me of a personal experience I had my junior year of high school. It was the week right before midterms and everyone was busy getting prepared to study. However, on January 7, 2013 instead of being busy with studies, we all mourned the loss of a friend and classmate. Early that morning, my friend Angie passed away after committing suicide due to family
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Throughout the years many people have tried to put a ban on smoking all together. There has been millions of dollars wasted on campaigns and ads to try and stop this epidemic but it doesn’t seem to be working. After reading the information about smoking I honestly believe smoking is such a great issue, that even if we do try and create a tipping point, the issue is so big that we will only affect the smoking problem a little bit. Causing it to be a long time before smoking rates go down. One thing that interested me was how Malcolm Gladwell explains cigarette smoking as a social and biological contribution. In the chapter there were mini excerpts about how people began smoking. Many people said they smoked because of friends or family. In the mid 1970’s Robert Plomin did a case study in Denver about pregnant women who would give their baby up for adoption. Plomin discovered the adopted children had personalities linked closer to their biological parents. Even though in society we like to believe we act the way people raise us, the reality of it all is we act the way we do because of biological
The smoking issue is very complicated and some of the arguments are beyond the scope of this essay. Still, we can obtain a balanced outlook if we consider the following: the facts of smoking, individual right, societal responsibility, and the stigma of smoking. Haviland and King write essays which contain very important points, but seem to contain a bias which may alienate some people. To truly reach a consensus on the smoking issue, we must be willing to meet each other halfway. We must strike equilibrium between individual right and societal responsibility.
In the seventh chapter of Malcom Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, readers are first introduced to a case study about increased rates of suicide of teen boys in Micronesia. Gladwell explains that suicide in Micronesia is common and it is triggered by the slightest things. Almost all of the suicides are males that are in their late teens and living at home. Usually, these teens are triggered by arguments with their girlfriends or parents. Gladwell then tells readers that teen suicide is a fatal epidemic in Micronesia that is related to another fatal epidemic: teen smoking in the West. Nobody really understands how to fight teen smoking. He also claims that teen smoking is self-destructive experimentation
A mother finds her 17 year old teenage son hanging from the rafters of their basement. To hear of this occurrence is not rare in society today. Every 90 minutes a teenager in this country commits suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds. The National suicide rate has increased 78% between 1952 and 1992. The rate for 15-19 year olds rose from two per 100,000 to 12.9, more than 600 percent. (Special report, Killing the Pain, Rae Coulli)
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
Smoking is a lifestyle, a habit, and a trend. Smoking has become a social activity among teens, connecting them through the craving of a smoke. Smoking is seen as seductive and cool in the media and movies which influences teenagers to smoke even more. The World Health Organization has stated that “Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.” As of April 2016, only 7% of teenagers in the U.S. smoke, but it is said that tobacco use will kill 8 million people annually by 2030. 99% of adult smokers start in their years as teenagers. Smoking is an epidemic that has taken control of people’s lives since 1881 and the media since the early 1900s. Smoking currently kills about 440,000 people a year in the U.S. I feel that it is an issue because it is the #1 most preventable way to die, but people still continue to smoke because of how it looks and how they are perceived as a person if they do. The fact that people become addicted to a trend that will attribute to their death for the sake of being thought of as cooler, is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Some survivors aren’t about to accept the readjustment of the sudden lost and coupled with the suffering experience through grief can find suicide as they only solution. The theme of the loss of a loved can cause the survivor the commit suicide is seen in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but isn’t shown as expected. Suicide in today’s society impacts the United States both financially and socially with heavy costs in medical bills and destroy relationships between the surviving member and the deceased loved one. The grieving process is a path where one can find themselves with their wounds healed or as an emotional crippled individual at the edge of their
Every year cigarette smoking is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths (Nugel), you do not want to be just another statistic, do you? America’s first cash crop was tobacco. That means that tobacco has been around for a really long time. It was not until 1865, though, that cigarettes were sold commercially. They were sold to soldiers at the end of the Civil War (Dowshen). From then, cigarettes spread like wildfire, and it was not until 1964 that anyone made a stand about the negative effects of tobacco and cigarettes. People start smoking for all different reasons, some to fit in and some to “escape”. Regardless, it is a horrible habit. 3900 children will try their first cigarette today. Amongst adults who currently smoke, 68% of them began at age 18 or younger, and 85% at 21 or younger (American Lung Association). And of all those people, 70% say if they were given another chance they would never have picked up that first cigarette (Tobacco Free Maine). Smoking is responsible for 1 and 5 deaths in the united states, and is the number one preventable cause of death (NLH). Smoking burns and there is no doubt about that, but before one picks up that cigarette, understand the negative effects on not only oneself, but others affected by ones poor choices, like second-hand smoke. Because of smoking cigarettes, many types of cancer, decrease of life quality, and negative health effects have become all too common in the world today.
Smokers understand how hard it is to quit. They admire those who were able to quit. We understand the risk of smoking and the obvious side effects that could result in death. Although all the studies show the death effect of smoking, many of us are still unable to quit. In the essay, Phillip brought his girlfriend to a social gathering, where she pulled out a cigarette and started smoking.
According to Slater (2006), many risk-taking teenagers may believe in the use of smoking or alcohol is part of defining who they are. The adolescences who have a reputation of being “cool” or rebellious teenagers believe that they need to smoke to maintain their reputation. Smoking is not considered a health hazard in all cultures. For instance, a young child whose parents are involved in health and wellness will be taught how undesirable smoking is. On the other hand, the family, where the parents smoke, a young child may not be taught about the dangers smoking. Smoking can be a part of certain cultures and at the same time be an example of what not to do in another culture.
In recent years, smoking has started to take over the lives of many teenagers. The number of teenagers smoking has increased dramatically in the last several years. This is a major problem because smoking can lead to sickness and major diseases that can lead to death. Teens tend to participate in this while out of the presence of an adult figure. Although teens should not be smoking in the first place, an adult figure should be around to help insure that their children are doing the right things, even when they are behind sealed doors with their peers. Teenagers as they mature become a model for younger children and when they set the example of smoking can ruin their respectable image to the children that look up to them.
Guess what? Even children who live in a smoking environment are influenced to become a smoker as they grow up; smoking has a huge impact on our younger generation as they are negatively influenced by this habit and we as adults are responsible for it. Many people don’t know this is a serious issue but they regard it as normality.
Second Hand Smoke In the 1950's and 60's scientists gave the people a lot of evidence on the deadly effects of smoking where the tobacco companies on the other hand tried to put the doubt in people’s minds through the campaigns to show that it is not all true. By the time people actually decided to take care of their health and finally saw how life-threatening smoking could be by real life examples, the tobacco companies already got rich from its sales. Nowadays, nobody doubts that “firsthand” smoke is deadly to your health and it causes lung cancer and heart disease in adults and asthma and bronchitis in children. Now the industry is onto the secondhand smoke. Scientists and researchers are representing a lot of evidence and research that has been done throughout the years showing that the secondhand smoke can also cause a lung cancer in nonsmokers. The study has been done of people who have been long exposed to secondhand smoke and it shows that 26 out of 33 published studies indicate a link between secondhand smoke and lung cancer. The study estimates that the people that were breathing secondhand smoke were 8 to 150 percent more likely to get lung cancer. The tobacco companies are trying to argue the facts and are still in serious debate about the health hazards of breathing a secondhand smoke. A lot of anti-smoking organizations are trying to turn smoking in public into a private activity that does not have to involve nonsmokers breathing secondhand smoke. What is even more important is that many of these organizations convinced a lot of smokers to cut back or quit completely. The problem of secondhand smoke is increasing because it is so common in our society. It makes secondhand smoke the third-ranking cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. Mothers who live with a smoking spouse have to realize the ill effects of secondhand smoke on children even before they are born. The smoking components reach the developing fetus through the mother. Infants that are born in a smoking environment weigh less and have a weaker chance of becoming a fully developed child. Secondhand smoke leads to blood clots and damages arterial linings which are the two most leading factors in the development of heart disease. The tobacco companies got scared of the effect that the secondhand smoke research can do to the cigarette makers.
Throughout researching teen suicide for my I-search report, I have learned many things. That no matter where you live, even in a small, sheltered town, there lurks the devastating reality of teen suicide. That there is no escaping it, all you can do is try to prevent it. All though I found my topic extremely depressing, I also found an extreme profoundness while researching it. It made me realize just how lucky I am, that I am the one helping, not the one hurting.
Smoking is a simple process of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning tobacco, but it has deadly consequences. According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in America today (Encarta, 2002). Until the 1940?s, smoking was considered harmless. It was at this time that epidemiologists noticed a dramatic increase in the cases of lung cancer. A study was then conducted between smokers and nonsmokers to determine if cigarettes were the cause of this increase. This study, conducted by the American Cancer Society, found increased mortality among smokers. Yet it was not until 1964 that the Surgeon General put out a report acknowledging the danger of cigarettes. The first action to curb smoking was the mandate of a warning on cigarette packages by the Federal Trade Commission (Encarta, 2002). In 1971, all cigarette advertising was banned from radio and television, and cities and states passed laws requiring nonsmoking sections in public places and workplaces (Encarta, 2002). Now in some cities smoking is being completely banned from public places and workplaces and various people are striving for more of these laws against smoking.
Smoking is one of the dangerous habits that people perform in their lives. This habit affects the health and causes several diseases, such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and pulmonary disease (Institute of Medicine, 2012). In the family I visited, the father is a smoker. He strongly approves with the idea of smoking while the mother strongly disapproves the idea of smoking. Both of them know that smoking is harmful to the smoker, but the father does not know that smoking is harmful for other people who are called: second hand smokers. In addition, the father was at the age of 15 when he started smoking cigarettes. There is more than one reason that pushed the father to start smoking when he was a teenager. One of these reasons is copying the behavior of his father. He believes it would be difficult for him to give up smoking. I agree that quit of smoking is difficult since cigarettes contain nicotine, which is more addictive than heroin and also smoking becomes part of his daily routine (Giovanni, 2012).