1. Teen Smoking
It has been recorded that teen smoking is on the rise lately. The increase will
eventually lead to even more teens smoking because the more teens smoking, means
more peer pressure on other students. Most teens or students find it possible to smoke
after school, near parks, or in towns. The one similarity between all of these places is that
it is away from adult supervision and other people who might tell there parents what they
are doing. The most common cause for teen smoking is peer pressure and the want to
improve their self image. Many of them think that if they smoke and fit in with that
crowd that they are cool. What they need to realize is that all smoking does is make you
look uneducated about it, it can, and probably will, kill you, and that it doesn’t make you
any cooler because you are damaging your body.
There are probably many ways to solve this problem, but one solution that I
thought of is if cigarette companies would stop advertising. If they stop advertising in
magazines that most teens read they would not get the image that smoking is so cool and
fun. If teens, who act before thinking, see all of these ads in their magazines with happy,
cool, fun looking people smoking they might start to think that if they smoke they could
be that cool. No influence from ads can take away the social aspect of smoking for teens.
Also getting rid of all the promotional clothing and merchandise that advertises
smoking and/or cigarettes would help get rid of some of the influence on teenagers.
When they see other teens or adults walking around with t-shirts, hats, and other apparel
it might make them think that it is a cool thing because only cool people wear those kinds
of clothes. Teens are more likely to do something that makes them cooler or helps them
in the moment they do it without thinking about the future and how it might affect them
later.
Taking the smoking out of T.V. programs and movies might also help stop the
growth in teens who smoking considerably. Teens will see these actors and people on
T.V. that they like and maybe think, “They look so cool and happy when they are
smoking. I wonder if I start smoking maybe it will help me to look cool.” Then, trying to
be cool like the actors they go out and start smoking. This is just one of the solutions that
might be used to help stop the growth in number s for teen smokers.
Another solution that could help is if the schools/ teachers educated the parents
and students about the problem with teen smoking. The school could get speakers who
have experience with what smoking can do to our health and your body to talk to the
students. If teens had a better concept of what smoking can, and probably will, do to you
they might think twice about picking up a cigarette. It will help the ones who already
smoke to maybe stop smoking because they realize what it is doing to them.
Schools could also start having after school programs where they teach students
about smoking. The teachers could tell them how, and help them, to stop if they already
smoke, teach them how to recognize if one of their friends are smoking, and how to help
someone who already smokes to quit. This might help teens to understand that smoking is
not cool and all it does is hurt you and make you look stupid.
Also having meetings with students and parents will help parents to realize what
the problem is if they don’t already know. Some parents don’t care but maybe if teachers

2. sat them down and really explained to them what it can do they might change their
minds. Also the ones who never really thought much about teen smoking would
hopefully start paying attention to their children to see if they smoke. This solution could
also help the smoking problem within the teenage group.
Although both of these solutions will probably help, I think that the first one will
help the most. First off, most teens already know what smoking will do to them but they
just don’t care. Almost all of the students in my school know what smoking will do to
you and that’s why they don’t smoke, but some teens think being popular and cool is
worth the damage cigarettes can do to you. Some may even smoke because it will harm
them so that their parents or other people will give them more attention.
The ads that teens see all over now can possibly persuade the ones who don’t
smoke to start. If they didn’t see all these untruthful ads about how cool and fun smoking
is it will probably greatly reduce how many teens start smoking. Whereas education
doesn’t take away that ‘cool’ feeling that they might get from smoking.
Another reason why the second solution isn’t as good is because some parents are
the ones who supply the cigarettes to their kids. Telling them what they problem is wont
help this because they already know it’s a problem but they obviously don’t care enough
about their kids to stop. Plus some parents or students won’t go to the meetings or after
school programs because they are just too lazy to care. These are the main reasons why I
think that the first will be most beneficial in this situation.
The students, parents, teachers, and anyone who cares enough to do something
about the problem, could write letters to the cigarettes companies telling them of this
idea. Then tell the students what will happen if they don’t stop smoking, tell them that
they can die or be hurt. They can hate you for it as much as they like but as long as they
fear what cigarettes can do to them then teens will hopefully stop smoking. We need to
stop this smoking issue before it grows into an overwhelming number of teen smokers.