There are many social problems that our society deals with every day. One of the most talked about issues in the news right now is the illnesses linked to e-cigarette use. Vaping has become a social problem and is an out of control epidemic in today’s society.
I chose an article by Gillian Flaccus called “Oregon death is 2nd linked to vaping, 1st tied to pot shop”, posted on September 5, 2019. The article is about the social problem of vaping, and the deaths and illnesses it is causing. According to the article, a middle-aged man died in Portland, Oregon due to a severe raspatory illness. The man reportedly used an electronic cigarette containing marijuana oil that he bought at a legal dispensary. The article also states, 215 people have been reported to have vaping related lung disease. In New York, 32 cases of vaping related illnesses have been reported, most involving people who vape marijuana oils (Flaccus).
E-cigarettes are an important social issue because so many people use them, and at all ages. Since vaping is so new, there is little to no knowledge of the long-term effects. E-cigarettes were originally made to help people quit smoking. Now people are getting sick and even dying from the effects. People always say marijuana is a “gate way drug”, but now what about vaping? The biggest issue vaping is causing is nicotine addiction. Once you have an addiction from one substance, many people seek out other forms. Many teenagers are vaping because it’s the new cool thing to do.
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Vaping seems so convenient to kids because of their size. Their small, which makes them easy to hide from parents and even at school. Addiction is a social problem that so many people and families face. Now vaping has formed a whole new way of forming addictions. I can attest to all of this because I too used to vape when I was a teenager. It became very popular in my school about four years ago. Nobody had any reason to do it other than thinking it was cool. Fast forward to now, I know many people who have stopped as a result of hearing all the reported illnesses on the news.
“Sociological imagination is the ability to see the relationship between individua experiences and the larger society” (Kendal 4). Sometimes we tend to think that other people’s problems aren’t our problems. For example, when someone loses a job we tend to not care because that isn’t us. That one person who lost his/her job is part of the large community of people who also don’t have jobs. The social problem of unemployment is connected to other social problems such as poverty, abuse, and addiction. Every single human and their experiences effect have effect on society.
Sociologists may use microlevel analysis to investigate how unemployment effects families and their communities (Kendal 4). The individual experience of using e-cigarettes becomes a broad issue, much like other social problems. The symbolic interaction perspective could be used when referring to the social problem of e-cigarettes. Symbolic interactionists study social problems by analyzing how the behavior becomes defined as a social problem (Kendall 10). We know vaping is becoming a serious problem because of the reported illnesses like we learned in the article.
Diversity and inequality do not play a role in the vaping epidemic. Anybody and everybody can get their hands on the product of they wanted to. Vaping is a social problem that we encounter and see almost every day. It is important that we recognize the issue and try to help in any way we can.
Works Cited
- Flaccus, Gillian. “Oregon Death Is 2nd Linked to Vaping, 1st Tied to Pot
- Shop.” AP Top News Package, Associated Press DBA Press Association, 5 Sept. 2019. EBSCOhost, http://kidd.blinn.edu:4981/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=aa281463-368e-422d-b700-dafdf7103daa%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=APa944b6de9adf4a5396ad816cf69fa72c&db=n5h
- Kendal, Diana. Social Problems in a Diverse Society. Seventh ed., Pearson, 2019.
