Teens who start smoking could smoke more over their lifetimes– which may be made shorter as a result. It’s a good reason to quit.

But teen smoking expert Dr.Yvonne Hunt of the National Institutes of Health says quit programs are often designed for adults, and teens are not little adults – they think and talk differently, and have different smoking patterns.

So Hunt and her coworkers developed a tool to help teens quit. Teens spend a lot of time texting, so SmokefreeTXT sends six weeks of teen-friendly texts to their cellphones. Teens can register at teen.smokefree.gov.

"If teens want to enroll on the go, using their mobile phone, they can also text "QUIT" – Q-U-I-T – to the shortcode "IQUIT," which is 47848."

Of particular concern are the increasing number of young girls starting to smoke compared to young boys.   ALERT:   Young ladies who start smoking, you might think you look cool now but you won't look so cool when you get older and are walking around with an oxygen tank!  Quit while you are ahead!

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Comments

What a great idea. Teens have very different motivating factors, smoking habits and social pressures so any stop smoking programme should work with, rather than ignore, these important differences.

Coupled with the idea of "being cool" peer pressure is also a factor that encourages teens to start smoking. Parents need to have a talk about the impact of cigarettes and work on building their teen's self-esteem and values.

yeah!!I could see more and more young people getting addicted to smoking.Unfortunately most of them being girls..But what is worrying is girls who smoke has very less chance of conceiving.Don't take smoking as enjoyment or pride.Please don't ruin your health and your fellow humans' health

cigarettes will cause many diseases, but it is also a waste of money. Stay away from cigarettes

Thanks for sharing this! What a great idea for getting help to teens through a channel they are using constantly. We all need to help spread the word about this program.

It's great to see new initiatives like this popping up. Most long term smokers have been smoking since they were very young so it makes sense to target smokers when they're young.

I just stopped smoking recently, it was the best decision I have made.

One very weird picture... But i really love this blog though.. A unique idea on how to divert smoking. More power to this article!

Great Great blog! Thanks, i know some says that using your cell phone too much could affect your health. But an in genius idea was created in-spite all the doubts. Gonna share this one! thanks!!

They look cool, but it's TVs fault. For many years smoking was cool on TV, and that is a serious problem!

I think this is an excellent idea! I wish id have not started when I was a teenager.

This is amazing idea. I think parents should be blame about this matter because in the first place parent are responsible for disciplinary actions of the child.

the best i ever see. really great idea, i want to test it on my 17yers old boy,

We must protect young people from smoking,,i support every idea that encourage to avoid and stop smoking.

Hi, excellent read.Now a days teens have started smoking why ? just because it's look cool.right?

What an awesome idea. I'm going to spread the word about this to teens I work with!

This is a great idea. So many young people smoke in my community and as they're growing older they're finding out all the reasons why they shouldn't smoke. This is perfect for young people who want to quit.