FEATURE
Smoking, vaping
and social
identity
By Gordon Stribling
It’s common knowledge among the vaping community that nicotine
is far less harmful than certain individuals in the tobacco-control
industry would have us believe. Some experts claim that it’s no
more of a strain on the heart than caffeine.
But it is addictive, or at least habit-forming. Herein lies the genesis
of the demonisation of the substance because it is the nicotine that
keeps people smoking. As renowned tobacco researcher Michael
Russell said back in 1977: “People smoke for the nicotine, but they
die from the tar.”
Addictions and habits are not just biochemical processes. Our
environment, ritualistic behaviour and social cues all play their role
in keeping people smoking and, in three-quarters of quit
attempts, relapsing.
A University of East Anglia (UEA) study published in July has shed
light on the role smoking plays in forming social identity and why
this makes it so much harder for smokers to successfully quit.
The team led by Dr Caitlin Notley interviewed 43 smokers who had
quit but relapsed later on. The subjects discussed their history of
smoking, their past quit attempts and the reasons why their efforts
had failed. The researchers then focused on 23 individuals who
discussed their experiences in further detail.
The team found that as the individuals started smoking, particularly
if they were teenagers at the time, their habits were being
heavily influenced by their social environment and close personal
relationships. This helped establish their smoker identity.
It can be incredibly difficult to let go of such a formative and ingrained
aspect of who we are, and we may even face the prospect of leaving
friends behind when we quit.
“When people attempt to quit smoking, what they are really doing
is attempting to bury part of their old identity and reconfigure a new
one,” Dr Notley said. “That can be hard. Particularly when it’s
something that has been ‘part of them’ for most of their adult life.”
It is natural to want to feel included in a social group. And while
your friends may not be your friends because they are smokers,
there will be certain rituals and collective experiences you can miss
out on if you stop being a smoker. No more huddling in the smoking
area at work or nipping outside for a smoke on a night out.
Dr Notley said that creating a new social identity can make it easier
for smokers to successfully quit.
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“For example, ex-smokers may take up new sports or hobbies that
give them a sense of belonging to a group that does not involve
harmful health behaviours.”
This might provide us with another explanation as to why so many
smokers find it so much easier to switch to vaping rather than traditional
forms of nicotine-replacement therapy like patches and gum.
Dr Notley addressed this point in an interview with Newsweek:
“Vaping may be a suitable alternative, and offers a social identity,
to ex-smokers who find it difficult to give up nicotine completely.”
Evidence of this social identity can be found at expos, on YouTube,
in vape shops and in this very magazine. While many people pay
no thought to vaping beyond its health benefits, for many others it
becomes a part of who they are.
As much as we might have enjoyed the act of smoking in a previous
life, the ‘smoker’ label comes with a lot of baggage. Vaping helps us
project a more positive image of responsibility and a commitment
to self-improvement.
While vaping is a relatively new phenomenon, there have been a
handful of studies on the link between vaping and social identity.
A 2015 study published in Psychology & Health aimed to find out
what young adult smokers and vapers liked and disliked
about e-cigarettes.