The Younger Generation and JUULs

When choosing a subculture, I was having a difficult time because I didn’t know which subculture to choose from. Immediately right off the bat, I thought of high schoolers who smoke e-cigs. This topic came in mind because my little sister and her friends who range from the age 15-17 have came in contact with JUULs and e-cigs last year or this year. Many do not know this but I do smoke e-cigs as well here and there. I got caught up with it the beginning of this year and just been somewhat addicted to it, you can say. Let’s get back to the topic on high schoolers and e-cigs. This subculture caught my eye because I wanted to find out the real reason behind on why so many teens smoke at this age. I wanted to find out if smoking was just the latest “trend” among the teenagers or they have legitimate reasons as to why they smoke. Also, I grew up in environments where I would come in contact with smoking. Throughout my life, I had family members such as my uncle or even my own brothers smoke right in front of me. I would walk into my brother’s room to see his room being filled with smoke from whatever the hell he was smoking. Yet alone my family, strangers walking down the sidewalks would be smoking their vape, or e-cig or an actual cigarette. I would be second-hand smoking without realizing that I am.

People smoke for many, many reasons. Some smoke because they’re bored and they literally have nothing else to do. Others smoke to fit in today’s society or try out the latest “trend.” I do believe that some people turn to smoking in a way to relieve stress or in a way to clear their mind of things. Even though there’s other ways to relieve stress, it is common for people to turn to smoking as their getaway and relaxation.

Understanding Culture:

“To JUUL or not to JUUL?” This corny yet creative play-on of Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” has been used by multiple news outlets as titles followed by the newest danger trend for the teen community – the JUUL. The JUUL is an electronic cigarette created by Juul Labs and is advertised as the better alternative to smoking. A JUUL is composed of two parts – a battery, and the pod. A JUUL pod contains flavored juice with nicotine and is inserted into the JUUL battery, or main housing. The way to smoke the JUUL is simple, simply insert your favorite flavored pod, and pull. Now of course, you can’t smoke it forever. Once the juice in your pod runs out, you have to insert a new one. Also, you have to make sure your JUUL is charged before smoking. Juul Labs made its debut of JUUL in 2017, in hopes of running the vape market, which has been around for nearly two decades, advertised the JUUL to adults who were looking for an easy alternative to smoking cigarettes. But adults were not the only audience that got swayed by the sleek design of the e-cig and it’s multitude of smokeable flavors. The audience that was convinced the most you ask? The middle-school and high-school teen.

Nearly 1 in 5 youth students between the ages of 12 and 17 have witnessed the use of the JUUL in their schools. Keep in mind – one flavored JUUL pod, which can usually be smoked within the day, contains more nicotine than an entire commercial pack of cigarettes. With the amount of youth smoking from a JUUL device, this generation could be witness to a new wave of nicotine dependance in teens, which will be problematic with brain development on their way to becoming adults. However, the blame doesn’t lie entirely with teens, or Juul Labs for that matter, it also lies with retailers who have JUUL products available. Using my city, Brooklyn, as a reference, you can find JUUL products and similar e-cigs with flavored pods on every corner store and deli. Most of these local stores constantly sell to underaged kids, even though they usually have big red posters taped to their counters which read “We Check ID” or “Sale of Alcohol and Tobacco to Minors is Unauthorized”. These e-cig products sell like candy, with delis also selling flavored pods separately from the pack for $5, while a pack including 4 pods is $20. However, with the recent FDA regulations and bans on products similar to JUUL, the prices of these products has dramatically increased, with a pack of pods costing as much as $40. Also, due the the FDA’s regulations, many unknown companies have began selling fake JUUL pods which look exactly like the real thing, however these fake pods pose an even bigger threat to teens, since no one knows where they’re made and what they’re made with.

For my review protocol, I would like to interview underage teens who smoke JUUL or similar products. The outcome of this study is to find out why they smoke e-cigs, how they found out about them, how easy it was to get them, and how has smoking changed them, both physically and mentally. I will visit my old high school which is New Utrecht High School located in Brooklyn. I would go during after-school hours to talk to students who JUUL. Participants for this study will be anywhere from 14 to 18 years old, and still attending high school. I’d like to also compare the difference, if there is one, between smokers who have been smoking for more than 6 months, and ones that have been smoking for less than 3 months. This would benefit in finding evidence for the claim that nicotine affects brain development. In that particular study, students participating must have a similar GPA in the past 6 months, and must be at the same grade level. This would help make the study more fair and will make it easier to pinpoint any differences. I would also like to ask the participants how long they see themselves smoking e-cigs and if they ever thought about smoking cigarettes. I believe most teen JUUL smokers are unaware of the high nicotine levels they are exposing themselves to, and believe that they aren’t putting themselves in danger due to the stigma that vaping is healthier than regular smoking. Hopefully, this study will help them better understand what they are really putting their bodies through.

Entering the Field:

During the week, I went over my old high school which is New Utrecht High School located in Brooklyn, NY.  I went around the time the students are dismissed which is 2:18PM. Getting off 79st stop on the D train, I can already hear the rowdy kids that’s near Dunkin’ Donuts right across from the school. I walk around to see if I can spot my little sister and her friends. As I’m walking around, I see one of her friends run up to me to give me a hug. My sister was wearing her white hijab, a neon green hoodie and regular blue jeans. Her friend, Ayah had her long brown hair down, wearing a white tee-shirt and black jeans. After meeting up with my sister and friends, I noticed they were smoking a stig (which is another form of a JUUL). A stig is a disposable e-cig that looks much like a USB drive and it comes in many different flavors. Walking into Dunkin’ Donuts and trying to grab a seat, I noticed that they weren’t the only ones smoking a stig or their JUUL. As I walked into Dunkin’ Donuts, it was just crowded with kids from New Utrecht. The manager, you can say, was trying to kick the students out who weren’t buying anything and was there to chill.

While being on my phone and jotting down notes, I was being observant and see what the kids were doing. I tried to act nonchalant and normal so the students don’t come to me asking what am I doing and bother me. I noticed that it was a norm to be smoking JUULs and stigs. I see kids young as freshmen pull their JUUL out and smoke out in the open.  I would overhear some of the football players asking one of the kids for “a hit from the stig.” I saw one football player wearing his green Utrecht practice jersey with the number 33 on the back of it go up to who I believe is his friend for a JUUL. I also noticed that athletes who shouldn’t be even smoking since their season as started were smoking and passing their stigs along to share around their friends. I stood around about an hour and a half just observing these annoying kids. One of the kid’s stig died when he was trying to smoke it. He immediately left Dunkin’ to the bodega which was right next to Dunkin’ to buy ANOTHER stig. I was in shock on how quick this young man was to go get yet another stig.

After an hour and a half, I was in complete disappointment to what society has become to; shaking my head and heading out of Dunkin’ Donuts, I see a bunch of students crowding around the bodega on the corner across the street. I was confused as to why there’s so many kids so I walked by to see what was happening. Nothing wrong was happening. It was just a bunch of high schoolers chilling around and smoking. This time, it wasn’t a JUUL or stig. It was blunts of weed. You can smell the aroma of weed when walking passed by them. Being that they’re ONLY high schoolers, them being around young as 16 and smoking at this age is just crazy to me. The D train stop is right next to the school so about every five to ten minutes, you would hear trains from both the Manhattan side and Coney Island side bound. The environment itself looks and feels dirty. There was garbage almost everywhere on the sidewalks and the air just felt really disgusting and nasty. Walking up the stairs to the train station and heading towards the Coney Island side to head on home, they were high schoolers also waiting for the train too. It was a bunch of maybe I could say 16-17 year olds just play fighting and goofing around near the tracks. They’re would be two boys play fighting and the others would watch, record or smoke. Overall, observing the high school students at New Utrecht high school gave me an insight on what goes on in today’s society and the trends in the younger generation.

Interviewing Informants:

I chose three of my friends (two females, one male) to interview because I’ve known that they have been smoking for awhile now regardless of their family, age or school. I wanted an insight on what’s behind the whole idea of juuls/nicotine and why it’s the new “trend” in the younger generation.

Sitting across from Ayah, I noticed her New Utrecht flag football windbreaker with her name and the number fifteen in the front of it. She was fixing up her hair and was trying to put it in a bun but it wouldn’t stay so she gave up and let her down. When she was frustrated with her hair, she would crack a laugh and smile at me. I noticed her deep dimples whenever she laughed and would get shy and nervous for some reason. She dropped her duffle bag on the floor and wanted to get the interview done with.

Questions & Answers: Ayah Qudsi

1. What grade are you in? How old are you? I’m a junior and I’m 17 years old.
2. Elaborate and tell me about your family and the neighborhood you grew up in– Well I come from a Muslim home, family of six and I’m the youngest from my siblings. Both my parents were born in Palestine but everyone else was born and raised in Brooklyn. I grew up in Bensonhurst all my life; it’s a friendly neighborhood which I love. I knew majority of the people in my neighborhood ya know, practically grew up with them. Till this day, I try to catch up with some old childhood friends. That’s about it really.
3. How were you exposed to smoking growing up as a kid?— Well, my father would smoke cigarettes in the house and I would always see him outside on the patio smoking almost a pack a day. And being said that I’m Arab, my family would smoke hookah here and there. I have two to three hookah pipes in my house and usually my sister would smoke by herself or with my brothers in my room. I was always exposed to smoking whether in my house or out in public. I would sometimes see my neighbors smoke cigarettes out, in front of their house or just people casually walking down the sidewalks with a cig in their hand.
4. When was your first time smoking a Juul or any other nicotine product? How’d you feel?— I remember my first time smoking a Juul was summer time after sophomore year. I was with my friends in my room, just chillin’ you know and he pulled out his Juul and asked if I wanted a pull. I hesitated for a bit but Im like hey, fuck it why not? I remember taking the first pull, I coughed up a storm. It killed my throat so bad but I decided to take a couple of more pulls. I couldn’t stop coughing so I gave that shit back to him. I remember chugging a bottle of water because my throat wouldn’t stop hurting me and I kept coughing. Omg omg I remember standing up to grab something off my shelf and I got ODEEE lightheaded omg. But ya know, It’s a first time for everything.
5. Were you peer pressured to smoke or felt the need to smoke for whatever the reason was? If you were peer pressured, who peer pressured you?— Like I said, I wasn’t really peer pressured or anything. My friend asked me if I wanted to try it so I was like why not, ya know. I didnt felt the need to smoke at the time because I didn’t know what a Juul was till it got popular.
6. What’s so pleasurable about smoking to you?— To be honest with you, I like the lightheaded buzz feeling from it. I feel somewhat relax whenever I smoke.
7. Did you felt the need that you always needed to smoke? Is there a specific reason on why you smoke Juuls or any nicotine products at this age?— Usually I smoke when I’m bored which I always. Overtime I got addicted and I would smoke a stig a day. A stig is more like a Juul but its disposable so once it’s dead, you can’t smoke it no more. Also a stig is way cheaper than a Juul.
8. Besides Juuls/stigs, what else do you smoke?— Other than juuls, I smoke hookah. Like i said, I come from a family who smokes hookah almost every other day so I’m used to the environment around me with people smoking anything to be honest.
9. Do you plan on quitting anytime soon? If so, how?— Actually, I’ve been three weeks sober from smoking. I mentioned to my close friends and everyone around me that I needa quit this shit.
10. Is it common for young people like you to smoke Juuls? Why? — Yeahhh, of course it is because it’s such a common and a nonchalant thing cause kids do. It’s normalized in our generation; everyone legit smokes so people do it to fit in with today’s society.

While interviewing Ayah, right off the bat I noticed that she wasn’t going to take it seriously because we’re close friends and she probably thought that this would be all fun and games. After talking to her and mentioning how this is apart of my final, she apologized and was real with me throughout the whole interview. When answering the questions, she would laugh and look at everything else around me instead of talking to me face to face. She couldn’t maintain any eye contact throughout the whole interview. I noticed her body language as she was answering my questions. She would talk with her hands majority of the time and her left leg would shake. Being that I’ve been friends with her for a very long time, I pretended to act like I’ve never met her to get as serious as possible with the whole interview.

After wrapping up my interview with Ayah, I called Buket over to conduct the second interview. From the start, I knew Buket wasn’t going to take this seriously and she was so focused on her friends and phone. I wasn’t grabbing her attention so I kindly asked if we can conduct the interview outside, up the block where there’s benches and peace and quiet. When finally seated, I noticed she took her bag off and put her phone away so she can focus with her answers and focus on me.

Buket was wearing a blue Champion hoodie with her long brown hair being let down. I noticed her Adidas slippers so I’m guessing today was a pretty bummy day since she decided to dress very comfortable.

Questions & Answers: Buket Kagitcioglu

1. I’m a sophomore and I am uhh 16 years old.
2. Well I come from a Turkish home. We’re not that religious in my family besides my mother. I come from a family of five so my mother, father, two older brothers and myself. I grew up in Bensonhurst all my life basically. From where I live, basically everyone knew each other on the block. Uhh I don’t know what else to say.. Uh yeah that’s about it.
3. I would remember seeing my aunts and uncles smoking cigarettes near me whenever they would visit. Besides family, I would see random strangers always taking a pack of cigarettes out and smoke right in front of me. I didn’t really see the big deal of smoking at the time like it’s their life, not mine ya know.
4. I remember my first time smoking which was last year, in the ninth grade. At the time, Juuls was starting to become very popular ya know, it just hit the market and everyone had a juul regardless of their age or anything. I remember it was the beginning of freshman year when I first smoked a juul. It was during school time and I met up with my friend in the girls bathroom. She was smoking her juul and when she blew out the smoke, it smelled really fruity. I asked her if I can try and she handed me the juul. I remember trying to inhale the smoke but I couldn’t so I ended up coughing like crazy. I kept taking more pulls because I liked the flavor of the juul pod. I think it was blueberry flavor, I’m not sure.
5. Nahh, I wasn’t peer pressured or anything. I thought it was a cool thing to do, you know. My friends would always have their juuls on them whenever I hung out with them so overtime, I would always find myself in the environment where people are smoking so why not? Plus, it was easy for me to get a stig even when I was a freshman because the delis would sell it to high school students regardless of their age. I guess the bodegas just cared about their business and making business by all means.
6. The most pleasurable thing about smoking I would say is that it relieves stress. Sometimes I be stressed from school because of these bullshit classes or my family would stress me the fuck out so I would smoke and all my stress would literally disappear.
7. Like I said before, I smoke to relieve my stress but I also smoke because I’m bored majority of the time. Like for example, when I have time to kill, I’ll just smoke. Or like whenever I’m home, I would smoke in the bathroom because I can’t have my family knowing I smoke.
8. I have before which was hookah and weed but I’m not crazy for it. I’ll only smoke whenever I’m in a mood or when I’m at parties. I havent smoked hookah or weed in a while. All I’ve been smoking are juuls.
9. I actually do plan on quitting soon but it’s difficult because I’ve been smoking for a long time. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted but sometimes I feen for it when I dont smoke for a long time. I plan on quitting soon by staying away from my friends who smoke and by not buying it anymore. I’m trying to focus and better myself and clear my head away from nicotine.
10. Of course bro yes!! This generation finds smoking cool, which is sad to say. Majority of the people smoke it because they’re bored or they need to relieve stress and what not. Especially the fact that it’s so easy to get it from the corner store makes it easy for us and hard for us to quit. Majority of the kids in school smoke whether its weed, cigs, juuls etc. It’s honestly sad wallah (I swear to god in Arabic) but that’s how our society is.

 

Throughout the interview, I noticed the eye contact she kept with me. She was focused on me and took her time answering my questions. Even though she seemed confident throughout the interview, I noticed that she was nervous as if I was a police officer or something. When answering the questions, she would stutter a bit and she would play with her thumbs. Sometimes she would fix her hair multiple times, even when her hair was perfect and nice.

After interviewing both Ayah and Buket, I wanted to get a male’s point of view. After thanking both of them for taking their time out of their day and let me interview them, I waited for my other friend to get out of volleyball practice. I waited about 15 minutes so during that time, I was fixing up my notes and organizing the answers between Ayah and Buket. Fifteen minutes gone by, I noticed Evan on the corner waiting for me. With Evan, he wasn’t nervous at ALL. He was very nonchalant and tired. He dropped his bookbag and just relaxed a bit while I was gathering my book and pen to start the interview. What else I noticed that caught my eye was a stig in his hand. A stig is a disposable e-cig which is similar to Juuls but they’re cheaper and smaller. Stigs are also easy to buy from the corner stores and they’re only ten dollars, I believe. It just shocked me a bit because he just got out of practice and he’s smoking.

Evan is a bit tan with his eyebrows freshly done and wearing his volleyball practice jersey with his number on the front and on the back. His number was 69 which I found odd because why would anyone want that number on their jersey. He was drenched in sweat and looked exhausted as ever. Evan had his hair up in a mini man bun because it was too hot and he couldn’t stand the heat.

Questions and Answers: Evan Rivera

1. I’m a junior in this bumass school and I’m 16 years old.
2. Well, you already know that I’m Puerto Rican and I come from spanish household. I live with my 3 brothers, one is my step-brother and my older sister. I’m the third youngest in my family. I do not live with my parents. Sometimes my uncle comes over and sleeps with us. My grandma, lord she’s the best. She comes to cook for us and then goes back to her place. I grew up in Park slope all my life. Back the, Park Slope was the hood, ya know. I would walk to the corner store to see guys smoke and just chill out in the open. But now, it’s like the white people have taken over. It’s not the same anymore. I grew up seeing my family members rolling their blunts in front of me. My family smokes weed so I’m always in that environment bro.
3. I was exposed to smoking by my own family. I was always around someone smoking regardless if it’s weed or cigs. I remember the first time was seeing my uncle have his weed out and roll his blunt in front of me. I was around 11-12 at the time, I wasn’t dumb. I knew what he was doing or whatever. My siblings would always smoke so I guess it was okay for me to start smoking since it was okay for my brothers and sisters to smoke.
4. My first time smoking a juul was last year. My boy had a juul so I wanted to see what was the hype about it. All I remember was that I was lightheaded as fuck. But overtime smoking it, I got used to the lightheaded feeling and it felt good to me. Never in my life I thought I would smoke a cig but I got caught up with it and now I’m used to it. But my first time smoking weed was when I was around 12 years old. Me and my friends were just messing around at the park near my house and we just decided to smoke. I remember coming home with my eyes low and very pink. I was high as fuck. Just from there, I started smoking.
5. I wasn’t peer pressured at all. It was my choice.
6. I think what’s most pleasurable about smoking is that it helps me sleep for some odd reason. Without it, I have trouble sleeping at night. At time, I would stay up for hours because I just couldn’t sleep. But when I smoke, it’s easier for me to sleep. I knockout so fast after I take a couple of hits off the stig.
7. I smoke to be honest because I’m bored and it just makes me feel better. I don’t know how to explain it but it just does. I feel at ease whenever I smoke. I feel like nothing can bother me and nothing can stress me out.
8. Besides stigs and juuls, I smoke weed and hookah. Hookah is more of a common thing in the spanish culture so whenever my brothers or sister hooks up the set at my house, I just kick it out with them and smoke. But I prefer weed and stigs over hookah only because they give me an ease feeling than hookah. With hookah, its like you smoke for 30 mins and you’re done like what the hell.
9. To be very honest with you Ola, I don’t know how I’m planning on quitting. I tried multiple times but I just relapse and start smoking again. I’m a crackhead (bursts out laughing).
10. It is common in our stupid generation because it has become a norm to smoke nowadays. I think it’s also because of the fruity flavors e-cig companies come out with. Usually almost everyone I know smokes the “lush” flavor which is like a fruity flavor that everyone is obsessed with.

 

During the interview, Evan was smoking his stig which of course I didn’t mind. I can just tell by his body language and his answers that all this was nothing new to him. He was comfortable answering all my questions. Regardless that he just got out of practice and he’s exhausted, he was answering my questions to the best of his ability. Unlike Ayah, he was being serious even though he cracked a laugh or two throughout the whole interview. After conducting the interview, I thanked him for taking the time out of his day to sit down and letting me interview him.

What I learned from all three interviews is that Juuls, Stigs, etc is common regardless what age you are. This generation, this society in my opinion is just sad. High school students see cigarettes as a form of a trend whereas if you smoke, you’re considered “cool” and you’re “fitting in” with todays society and norms. From all three interviews, all of them mentioned how they smoke because they’re bored or it’s a stress reliever. I personally don’t understand why students at this age tend to go pick up a cig to make them feel better as a whole. I’m just more disappointed at today’s society. Disappointed yeah, but definitely not surprised.

Final Reflection:

Overall, conducting this study opened my eyes and see what is really going on with today’s society. Smoking comes with its consequences yet these teens don’t seem to care for it whatsoever. They want to fit in with the latest trends and it’s a norm to smoke at this young age. Personally, I felt sick in the stomach to see kids young as 15 years old, ONLY 15 years old smoke out in the open and not have a care in the world. I personally shouldn’t say anything because I do smoke myself but I have my personal reasons and I would say I am old enough to smoke. Conducting this field study made me realize that this generation is evolving and changing quickly. But not for the better. I would love to further this field study and gather as much information as I can. This subculture caught my eye and I would definitely keep a hold onto this field study. Going out and observing gave me an opportunity to be out in the field and gain information as much as I can. Not only this was a learning experience but it was also an engaging and a fun one.