Noel King

And that is that in 2024, nearly one in 20 adults in the United States aged between 18 and 24 had used cigarettes in 2022.

Wow.

But that figure was almost three times higher for those aged 25 to 44.

So that's showing that young people aren't smoking in the same way that the older generations are.

And the general data is showing that there is a sort of decline in smoking and that this government intervention and the longstanding research and the push from the governments to show that smoking isn't healthy has worked.

But there is that dissonance with the pop cultural fascination.

This is very interesting.

It makes me wonder, the people that you spoke to about smoking, do they acknowledge the health risks?

Do they say, like, we know this is bad?

I don't think there's an idea that smoking is not bad for you among any circles.

That's definitely not something that I have seen or have found in my reporting.

I think there's a real universal acknowledgement that it's terrible for you.

I think the more interesting point of conversation there is probably, well, everything is terrible for you, so why not this?

Do you smoke?

I do smoke.

Do you smoke all the time?

I would say I'm a sporadic smoker.

I'm a sort of occasional social smoker.

I'm a one-a-day smoker at the moment, but I've already had two today, so... Well, it's on theme.

Marnie Rose McFall across the zeitgeist for Newsweek.