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Adults are the real victims of social media
Meta has agreed to pay up to $18billion (£13billion) to settle claims brought by 29 US states that its Facebook and Instagram platforms harmed children (Metro, Thu).
What about the adults? When I go out and about, the children are usually playing around with their friends.
It’s the adults who are staring at their phones like zombies on trains, or walking down the streets, crossing roads and going up and down stairs without looking up to see where they are going. Jane, Islington
This GP says vaping is not ‘better’ than smoking
An Oxford University-led review says vaping is a ‘viable option’ for people wanting to quit smoking and that they are safer than cigarettes (Metro, Wed).
I am a GP, and myself and many colleagues are concerned about the increasing rhetoric that vaping is ‘better’ or ‘safer’ than smoking.
I routinely ask patients about smoking and many will say, ‘Oh no, I’m not smoking’ only to discover they are ‘just vaping’. Vaping is as addictive and in some ways more concerning. The fun flavours, the refillable nature that means you can find it hard to keep track of how much you are using and the apparent targeting of young adolescents – NHS survey data suggests almost one in four 11 to 15-year-olds have tried vaping.
The risks are not limited to lung damage. Many patients who struggle with sleep are often shocked that nicotine in their vapes is well known to disrupt and affect sleep quality.
Many websites give the impression nicotine can be taken safely for years without mentioning the numerous effects it has on the whole body, from your heart rate to your digestion.
We should be looking to implement some of the measures Australia has made – restricting flavours, making some therapeutic vapes a prescription item and tightening the regulations.
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Meanwhile, the public message should always be that both smoking and vaping are harmful. Dr Noorani, GP, London
‘The best way to stop is to never start’
Vapes may help some people quit but by far the best way to stop is to never start.
That’s why the Tobacco and Vapes Act (banning anyone born in 2009 or later from buying nicotine products of any kind) is so important.
Unfortunately, because our politicians have distracted themselves with early elections and leadership battles, it now won’t come into force until next year, by which point lots of people will become addicted to nicotine.
But what’s worse is that Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch want to do away with the ban, which would cost us dearly in both lives and money and take us right back to square one. Charlie Parrett, Stoke
Resident joker makes return
I am a superstitious boxer – I always have a horseshoe in my glove… Jeff, Nuneaton
Praise for Jeff
I was speaking to an elderly gentleman in the pub the other night and his name was Jeff (with a J). He’s from Nuneaton.
I asked him if he was indeed the Jeff from Nuneaton who writes in to your letters page with the wittiest of jokes that brighten my mornings at work.
He assured me he was not Jeff from Nuneaton and that he is another Jeff from Nuneaton.
So, to Jeff from Nuneaton, keep up the good work. Your witty little asides brighten my days. Neil, Leicester
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