The Cigarette Generation Gap: What Older Smokers and Younger Nonsmokers Don't Understand About Each Other
Older generations remember when smoking was normal. Younger generations have never known that world. The generation gap creates mutual incomprehension—and a failure of empathy that shapes nicotine policy.
A Baby Boomer remembers smoke-filled airplanes and cigarette ads on TV. A Gen Z adult has never seen a cigarette ad on television and has never been in a room where smoking was permitted. **The generation gap creates mutual incomprehension: older people can't understand why young people would vape (they have all the information about nicotine's risks), and young people can't understand why older people ever smoked (the risks were always known). The gap shapes policy—older policymakers restrict, younger consumers resist. The gap is not just demographic. It's experiential.**
