Below is an extract from a BBC news item and a comment from me. Full text: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-68992772
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Despite how harmful smoking is, Dr Jackson believes "young people tend to be more likely to discount the health risks as being something that is not going to affect them anytime soon".
Eleanor said eventually she wants to give up smoking in case it affects her fertility.
Also, she says, because it is "embarrassing to be addicted to something".
But she's not worried about illnesses such as cancer. "That's never occurred to me or anyone that I am friends with.
"It's weird cause obviously we're also the generation that's obsessed with the gym... though I think that's about vanity."
Jo said they were not worried about health when they began smoking, even though they have family members who have died as a result of smoking.
"I feel like my generation or people my age are very much in the moment.
"I have friends and I hear them coughing. You can hear their lungs deteriorating already and they're my age, but it's not something you think about when you're 18, 19."
"I know about the health risks," says Louis. "The risk of cancer, emphysema, COPD, but obviously I think if I do it now while I'm young and get it out of the way it won't be that bad.
"I think I'll give up eventually".
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COMMENT (NPW): Humans are insensitive to health harms that might occur many years in the future, whether this relates to tobacco, alcohol or diet (or climate change). What can be done to increase understanding and sensitivity to long-term harms?
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org