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A comment on On Smoking. Parent comment

Re:On Smoking by Baeocystin on Monday May 31, 2021 @09:18PM (#27349831)
I don't smoke, but my roommate does. After living in the same house for a couple of years, now, I think I understand the social aspect of why people start. A cigarette break is the perfect amount of time to sit down and have a little chat, and provides a reason to stop once it's done, too. Meet on the deck, catch up on each other's day, see you later, back to work. That kind of thing.
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Re:On Smoking by ridethebike on Monday May 31, 2021 @10:39PM (#27350231)
Never smoked but always liked to get out of the office with my smoking friends for some (ironically) fresh air and a chat. There was a bit of zen in this. And hey, my lungs didn't have to pay price for it :)
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Re:On Smoking by wirrbel on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @01:11AM (#27350911)
I can totally understand that. I would just suggest to reconsider coffee/tea drinking in that regard (or whatever drink might serve as a substitute).

Already when studying/researching at Uni having a cup of coffee together did serve as such a communal break, catching up, etc. When I did an abroad term in Canada what hit me by surprise is that people would get take-away coffee and would ONLY drink it at their desks browsing Facebook. As a European it didn't take me long to find a Dutch guy who had the same feeling about joint coffee breaks and we became buddies.

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Re:On Smoking by Baeocystin on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @02:19AM (#27351217)
Coffee/tea breaks are great, but they are in a different category. People drink at different rates, and you need to be somewhere to sit to drink, and usually indoors near a kitchen area.

Smoke breaks are fast, usually outdoors, and limited by the short burn time of a cigarette the moment someone lights up. It's (IMO) a different social function, which is something I didn't appreciate until I lived with a smoker.

Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying smoking is a good habit to have. Only that I have a new appreciation for what 'smoke breaks' are as their own unique sort of socialization. Having a drink together, it's just not the same.

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Re:On Smoking by faichai on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @03:05AM (#27351445)
This is not why people start though, see DowsingSpoon’s comment above as to how that happens, it nearly always involves alcohol. This is what people do once they are already addicted, and then use socialisation and relaxation as a post-hoc justification to rationalise or even deny their addiction.
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Re:On Smoking by pstuart on Monday May 31, 2021 @09:59PM (#27350037)
That's the only thing I miss about smoking.
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Re:On Smoking by throw20210211 on Monday May 31, 2021 @11:29PM (#27350469)
Could do the exact same thing with... a bottle of water instead. I guess it's not cool enough though.
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Re:On Smoking by girvo on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @01:06AM (#27350887)
It's about social rituals. If you can create one of those with the people around you without addictive substances, more power to you! But coffee and cigarettes: they come with prexisting societal level rituals out of the box, so to speak.
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