One Thing Always Leads to Another

One Thing Leads to Another: Cigarettes

For decades, nearly every American has been keenly aware that smoking causes lung cancer. As recently as 1900, however, lung cancer was a rare disease, with no known cause. What happened?

New technology produced cigarettes on a large scale, advertising glamorized smoking, and during World Wars I and II the military gave out free cigarettes with nearly every meal. The consequence of these and other factors was an exponential escalation of smoking.

Because nearly everyone appeared to be smoking—in the military, in commercials, and in movies—how could there be anything wrong with it? It was “normal.” And it was very cool. But then, inevitably, one thing led to another, and after many years tobacco became the cause for a multitude of many truly horrible diseases.

Cigarette smoking increased rapidly through the 1950s. One helpful depiction of tobacco consumption is the per capita cigarette consumption per year, which is the number of cigarettes that would be consumed by every adult in the country if they all smoked. Let’s look at how that number has changed over the years.

Per capita cigarette consumption per year:

1910    150 (World War 1 occurred at this point, with military cigarette distribution)

1940    1800 per year (World War 2 here, with more military distribution)

1950    3700

1960    4300

The incidence of lung cancer went up EXACTLY in tandem with cigarette consumption, but lagging 30 years behind. That means that if you put the two graphs—for cancer incidence and tobacco consumption—on top of each other, they would look almost like the same graph (30 years apart), which strongly suggests—even proves—that tobacco causes lung cancer. It took many years to learn this, however, because (1) cigarettes were popular, (2) the medical effects were delayed, and (3) many people made large sums of money manufacturing and selling cigarettes, so they vigorously resisted admission of the link between tobacco and illness.

But one thing led to another, and the chemicals in tobacco—however innocent-looking it was in the short-term—gradually did alter the cells in the body to the point that they became diseased, killing many, many people. Lung cancer changed from a rare condition to “the most common cancer diagnosed in American men” today (American Cancer Society). For perspective, the number of people who died in the attacks of 9-11 is roughly the same as the number of people killed by tobacco addiction every two DAYS, year after year.

One Thing Leads to Another: Electronics 

There is another addiction spreading like wildfire throughout many countries, one that—like cigarettes—began innocently and inconspicuously but has led to severe and unanticipated effects.

In the past few decades, there has been a striking increase among the young in the incidence of entitlement, ADHD, screen addiction, disrespect toward parents, lack of connection, depression, porn addiction, and more.

That is the cancer, in this case many kinds of cancer. What is the cause? As with lung cancer, there are always multiple causes, but one cause sticks out brightly.

All of these unproductive child and teen behaviors began to increase strikingly—and have continued to grow—with the increase in the technology of electronics dedicated to communication and entertainment.

Texting, sexting, audio and video calling, video games, porn and more are FUN and remarkably effective in distracting us from the pain of lacking genuine connection.

So we use them more and more, and the content is designed to be more and more exciting. Eventually, kids can’t live without their multiple forms of entertainment—the very definition of addiction—nor do they have time or energy for schoolwork and other responsibilities.

And if parents try to require responsibility or to limit the use of the addictive electronics, the reactions can be quite dramatic and defiant. And that is what entitlement is—a “disease” that is crippling a generation of children.

Children born in the years from 1995 to 2012—the iGen—have never lived without ready access to cell phones and video game boxes. It’s only natural that they turn to these artificial sources of excitement when they don’t have sufficient love and guidance.

Electronics Addiction and Increased Suicide Rates 

The kids who use these devices for hours a day—as most do—kill themselves at rate at least double the rate found in kids whose use of such devices is limited. And suicide is just ONE indicator of the overall emotional health of our children.

One expert in the field writes, “This new generation is defined by their technology and media use, their love of electronic communication, and their need to be entertained and artificially stimulated.”

Note the word “defined.” Increasingly, children don’t even know who they are without electronics, and they can’t live without these forms of stimulation. Then “one thing leads to another,” and before long—without anybody suspecting the cause—they’re emotionally crippled.

As with cigarettes, (1) electronic devices are popular, (2) the emotional effects are delayed, and (3) many companies make large sums of money selling them and denying their effects.

Surely no parent would watch an eight-year-old child begin to smoke cigarettes without warning of the severe risks of that behavior. This would be, in fact, an occasion for strict parental prohibition of an activity.

And yet with electronic devices, we stand by cluelessly and helplessly, while one thing leads to another. Can we afford to do that?