The Juul Is Too Cool, written by Amos Barshad for the New York Times may be able to bring the public’s attention to the serious problem that is underage juuling. Barshad collected information directly from the source, teens. Gathering the date in this way gave the article a lot of credibility and made it engaging. It brought to light the fact that the juuling epidemic is very widespread in middle schools and high schools. I can think of several friends off the top of my head from both high school and college who regularly juul and could be considered addicts. I think juuling is foolish and that later more information will come out saying that juuling has a ton of negative health effects. Just as many believe juuling to be okay, many used to believe that cigarettes were okay, even healthy for you. It was later proven that cigarettes can lead to cancer, stroke, heart disease, and death. I think similar discoveries about juuling will be made. An article written in the National Center for Health Research called The Dangers of Juuling, notes that researchers have already found evidence that juuling can impair brain and lung development if used during adolescence. It also found that juuling in early adolescence can lead to more drug use and impulsivity later in life. Based on these discoveries, it is likely that juuling damages and inhibits the development of extremely important parts of the brain. This article used a variety of data from many credible sources such as the CDC and FDA. The fact that juuling is so popular among teenagers is not surprising. During adolescence, the prefrontal cortex, which regulates decision making and judgment is not fully developed. This is demonstrated by the image below. Teens tend to rely on the fully developed amygdala, which regulates emotions and impulses, to make decisions. This can explain why teenagers are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as juuling. Though the author of the initial article jokes that to stop adolescent juuling adults should start doing it, it is actually vital to find a way to get kids to stop using them. Juul manufacturers made juuls for adults and I think they should start being used by only adults. Juuling has become too socially acceptable for adolescents because it is easy for them to forget how much nicotine they are really consuming. I think if kids are reminded of the real danger juuling puts them in, then rates of it will go down.
5 Replies to “The Juul is so Uncool”
I thought that you did an extremely good job of reviewing and summarizing the article while also pulling in really relevant sources that helped support your main idea that juuling is really bad for you and how it is very inconvenient that it was sort of targeted to teens, because due to their underdeveloped prefrontal cortex they don’t have the best decision making, which makes getting addicted that much easier because they don’t see it as a problem. I also really like the way that you added in. your own personal experience with your friends because it made it feel a lot more relatable. I thought you just made a really solid claims about the way the juul is abused and was not only able to support the claim with evidence from other sources, but with experience, pictures, and scientific knowledge. Overall I thought you did a really good job!
I think you followed the criteria of the blog post well. You made your personal stance on the subject clear, and not only that but used sources to back up your claims. I also liked that you examined how credible the sources you were using were, making sure your audience knew that your claims were backed by credible sources. It was interesting how you tied in not only your experiences with adolescents in your life juuling, you also gave insight into why adolescents are likely to make such risky decisions, mentioning the amygdala which helped you delve deeper into the topic. I think it would be interesting if you compared adults and adolescents a bit more, perhaps exploring whether you think that adults’ fully developed brains will keep them from taking the risk of juuling, or if you think that it is important to let the brain develop first before juuling, even if a fully developed brain might still make the choice to juul after all, possibly still suffering some negative health effects. Overall, your post is a succinct response to the article and does a great job of tying the post requirements together with evidence and your own ideas.
When I go on social medial, I can find a post about juuling within seconds. It is not hard to see that juuling weaseled its way into the social limelight, despite the health risks associated with the heavy use of nicotine. An article posted to MensHealth.com stated that, “according to the JUUL website, one JUUL pod is equivalent to about one pack of cigarettes or 200 puffs.” It goes on to say that even though not much research has been done of the effects of juuling, researchers are concerned about the risks that come with taking hits. “As a cardiologist, I’m worried about someone who uses nicotine for a long time. Nicotine increases adrenaline levels. Sustained adrenaline levels increase the risk for a heart attack,” says Holly Middlekauff, M.D., professor of medicine and physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. So is juuling really cool enough to risk your health as a teenager? In the original article, Ashley Gould, the chief administrative officer of Juul Labs stated, “We do not want underage kids using our products. Our marketing is directed toward adults, tested with adults… We actively try to take [teenage social media posts of juuling] down. But… it’s quite difficult.” She doesn’t think it’s cool, but society has deemed juuling to be in in an unprecedented way, as shown in every social media platform imaginable.
The ‘Juul Syndrome” is indeed increasingly being normalized amongst various ages, ranging from teenagers to even grown adults. Extending from the point about “ juuling has become too socially acceptable for adolescents” due to the fact that “it is easy for them to forget how much nicotine they are really consuming,” studies have recently revealed that “one Juul pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes” (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). Just absentmindedly hitting the juul can result into massive health effects, where a whole pack worth of cigarettes is smoked. Because the juul is so convenient to buy, utilize, and transport, it is reasonable to assume that individuals easily forget the consequences and extent of their action. Mix in the fact that there are fashionable skins available, it exponentially raises the idea that juuls are “fun” or “cool.” The additional fact made by the Harvard School of Public Health states that some e-cig companies such as Blu eCigs have created cases that alert vapers if another vaper using the same brand is nearby. By doing so, this essentially epitomizes the fact that vaping and juuling are being used as social bridges and normalized behaviors. The idea of juuling and vaping creates an alternate reality, where the users forget the true magnitude of their actions and are masked by the fruity aroma and sleek visuals.
Hi Sophia,
I liked your blog and laughed out loud at the sentence about the way to stop teens doing something is for adults to start doing it. That hit particularly close to home! I also liked your ability to bring in information from our class into your post. However, whenever you use outside information, you should provide citations/bibliography at the end. You’ll never get faulted for citing TOO much but you’ll always get faulted for not citing enough.
I thought that you did an extremely good job of reviewing and summarizing the article while also pulling in really relevant sources that helped support your main idea that juuling is really bad for you and how it is very inconvenient that it was sort of targeted to teens, because due to their underdeveloped prefrontal cortex they don’t have the best decision making, which makes getting addicted that much easier because they don’t see it as a problem. I also really like the way that you added in. your own personal experience with your friends because it made it feel a lot more relatable. I thought you just made a really solid claims about the way the juul is abused and was not only able to support the claim with evidence from other sources, but with experience, pictures, and scientific knowledge. Overall I thought you did a really good job!
I think you followed the criteria of the blog post well. You made your personal stance on the subject clear, and not only that but used sources to back up your claims. I also liked that you examined how credible the sources you were using were, making sure your audience knew that your claims were backed by credible sources. It was interesting how you tied in not only your experiences with adolescents in your life juuling, you also gave insight into why adolescents are likely to make such risky decisions, mentioning the amygdala which helped you delve deeper into the topic. I think it would be interesting if you compared adults and adolescents a bit more, perhaps exploring whether you think that adults’ fully developed brains will keep them from taking the risk of juuling, or if you think that it is important to let the brain develop first before juuling, even if a fully developed brain might still make the choice to juul after all, possibly still suffering some negative health effects. Overall, your post is a succinct response to the article and does a great job of tying the post requirements together with evidence and your own ideas.
Juuls aren’t cool (or healthy).
When I go on social medial, I can find a post about juuling within seconds. It is not hard to see that juuling weaseled its way into the social limelight, despite the health risks associated with the heavy use of nicotine. An article posted to MensHealth.com stated that, “according to the JUUL website, one JUUL pod is equivalent to about one pack of cigarettes or 200 puffs.” It goes on to say that even though not much research has been done of the effects of juuling, researchers are concerned about the risks that come with taking hits. “As a cardiologist, I’m worried about someone who uses nicotine for a long time. Nicotine increases adrenaline levels. Sustained adrenaline levels increase the risk for a heart attack,” says Holly Middlekauff, M.D., professor of medicine and physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. So is juuling really cool enough to risk your health as a teenager? In the original article, Ashley Gould, the chief administrative officer of Juul Labs stated, “We do not want underage kids using our products. Our marketing is directed toward adults, tested with adults… We actively try to take [teenage social media posts of juuling] down. But… it’s quite difficult.” She doesn’t think it’s cool, but society has deemed juuling to be in in an unprecedented way, as shown in every social media platform imaginable.
https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19563572/juuling-e-cigarette-vaping/
The ‘Juul Syndrome” is indeed increasingly being normalized amongst various ages, ranging from teenagers to even grown adults. Extending from the point about “ juuling has become too socially acceptable for adolescents” due to the fact that “it is easy for them to forget how much nicotine they are really consuming,” studies have recently revealed that “one Juul pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes” (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). Just absentmindedly hitting the juul can result into massive health effects, where a whole pack worth of cigarettes is smoked. Because the juul is so convenient to buy, utilize, and transport, it is reasonable to assume that individuals easily forget the consequences and extent of their action. Mix in the fact that there are fashionable skins available, it exponentially raises the idea that juuls are “fun” or “cool.” The additional fact made by the Harvard School of Public Health states that some e-cig companies such as Blu eCigs have created cases that alert vapers if another vaper using the same brand is nearby. By doing so, this essentially epitomizes the fact that vaping and juuling are being used as social bridges and normalized behaviors. The idea of juuling and vaping creates an alternate reality, where the users forget the true magnitude of their actions and are masked by the fruity aroma and sleek visuals.
Hi Sophia,
I liked your blog and laughed out loud at the sentence about the way to stop teens doing something is for adults to start doing it. That hit particularly close to home! I also liked your ability to bring in information from our class into your post. However, whenever you use outside information, you should provide citations/bibliography at the end. You’ll never get faulted for citing TOO much but you’ll always get faulted for not citing enough.