Underage tobacco use is... declining

By Lexi Brittingham

Peer pressure was the reason that 16-year-old Kylie Bone started vaping.

At 20, it would become her motivation to quit.

When a classmate challenged her to break the habit with a financial incentive, she found herself falling for peer pressure once again – but this time, she felt like it was for the right reason.

“I always wanted to quit, but a friend gave me three months to do it for $300,” said Bone, a student at Trident Technical College.

The 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey finds that youth cigarette and e-cigarette use has dropped to an all time low since 1999.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids finds that a combination of increased restrictions, comprehensive legislation, and media campaigns may be responsible for contributing to the shifting social trends behind this monumental achievement.

Today, Bone is two years free from nicotine, and it wasn’t until a peer flipped the narrative behind tobacco use into something unappealing that she would finally feel compelled to leave the drug behind for good.

Her experience has led her to believe that shifting social trends play a major role in the decline of youth tobacco use.

“If everyone is doing something, you want to do it too – especially at that age,” Bone said. “Your friends also aren’t going to tell you no if you want to hit their vape or want them to buy you one, and one thing just naturally leads to another.”

The prevalence of social media among youth adds pressure.

Vaping was trending on Snapchat when Bone started using.

“It was the hot new thing, and there were so many different types of vapes coming out,” she shared. “I think most of them were very clearly advertised for kids.”

Tobacco products marketed toward youth social circles are nothing new.

Eric Engelby fell victim to the exact same practices in the 90s. Now 58, Engelby believes today’s youth are subject to significantly more temptation in the digital age.

“The newer avenues to nicotine through vapes is the biggest generational difference,” he said.  “I think the fruity flavors of vapes today are definitely an attempt to market towards youth.”

Ian Campbell, a 21-year-old who has used tobacco products since 14, believes that the only way to keep underage tobacco use down is to continue understanding where social pressures are coming from.

“You need to stigmatize it in a way that makes it socially taboo,” he shared. “There’s honestly no other way to do it.”