One of the stories that teens and adults particularly find captivating in our new film, Screenagers Under The Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol in the Digital Age, involves a wonderful girl named Ellie. Ellie started trying her friends’ vapes at parties and loved the “head high” from the nicotine. Because she enjoyed the “way it made (her) feel,” she was soon buying her own e-cigarettes.
We all would love for our kids not to smoke now or in the future. The reality is that some high school students, middle school students, and even some younger kids vape using e-cigarettes.
Many parents are convinced that their child has never used such devices, nor ever will. How could they? Haven’t we drilled into their heads how bad smoking is for people?
As a physician, I can tell you that many of my teen patients have said they indeed use e-cigarettes, and their parents are unaware of this. Ellie, from the film, did not let her parents know she had been vaping for quite a long time.
A survey of parents released last week provides some interesting data about parents’ beliefs when it comes to their children and vaping. Here are a few of the findings:
In reality, many young people do not know about the risks of vaping. Several investigations have shown this to be the case. For example, studies find that many youth believe that water vapor is inhaled when vaping and yet it is actually an aerosol mist. This aerosol is loaded with microscopic particles that damage lung parenchyma.
The fact that nearly half of parents think they would definitely know if their child was vaping is a testament to our wishful thinking. I know plenty of teens who have super strong relationships with their parents but who hide the fact that they vape from them.
One reason vaping can go under one’s radar is that the fruity scent of vaping can be mistaken for gum or candy, if it is smelled at all.
So now, let's relate this to social media and productive conversation topics we can have with our children or students this week.
Questions to get the conversation started:
One of the stories that teens and adults particularly find captivating in our new film, Screenagers Under The Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol in the Digital Age, involves a wonderful girl named Ellie. Ellie started trying her friends’ vapes at parties and loved the “head high” from the nicotine. Because she enjoyed the “way it made (her) feel,” she was soon buying her own e-cigarettes.
We all would love for our kids not to smoke now or in the future. The reality is that some high school students, middle school students, and even some younger kids vape using e-cigarettes.
Many parents are convinced that their child has never used such devices, nor ever will. How could they? Haven’t we drilled into their heads how bad smoking is for people?
As a physician, I can tell you that many of my teen patients have said they indeed use e-cigarettes, and their parents are unaware of this. Ellie, from the film, did not let her parents know she had been vaping for quite a long time.
Today, I’m writing about cannabis — or, as teens mainly refer to it, weed. Weed is by far the most common term. “Pot” is rarely used by younger people. I have worked hard in my clinic to refrain from using that word. I also do not use the term marijuana, although that term often gets used in research papers. In today’s blog, I write about four important topics and questions to discuss with youth in your life.
READ MORE >April is Alcohol Awareness Month, and I propose we use it as a time not to be overly fixated on the topic but to use it as a time to have one or two calm conversations. In today’s blog, I guide you through some topics and ideas to bring up with your kids about what they see in shows, movies, music videos, and social media and how it might influence their decisions.
READ MORE >In Screenagers Under The Influence, we examine the scary reality that people use apps, such as Discord and Snapchat, to reach young people in the hopes of selling them drugs. They might advertise they are selling Oxycodone, Ativan, or some other substance. The buyer has no idea that many of these are not what the sellers claim but instead are fake/counterfeit pills and that part of what they have in them is fentanyl.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.