It’s flavorful! It’s cool! It makes you feel good! It’s better than smoking! For the last few years, vaping has been a phenomenon sweeping the world and teens would tell you that these four reasons are a big part of why they do it. But surprise surprise, inhaling nicotine through an e-cigarette has been found to be more consequential than most previously thought. And teens are realizing these consequences. 

As new studies and stories begin to surface about individuals being hospitalized and in critical conditions due to vaping, it seems to be that the trend of using vapes is being overshadowed by an even bigger one; getting rid of them. And some people are having fun with it.

One Rocklin High student said “I was fishing with my friend and we put the hook inside of the vape. I cast it in the middle of the pond and let go of it.” Others have shared videos online of themselves throwing their vapes out car windows, into the ocean or into dumpsters.

As most things do in the digital age, the vaping fisherman’s motivation for tossing his vape came from the internet. “I saw stuff on the news, and I just wasn’t feeling it and didn’t want to be one of those pictures on Instagram,” they said.

These “pictures on instagram,” are viral photos of teens in hospital beds, holding signs of caution that warn people of all ages not to vape and end up like them. 

These hospitalized teens did not just try vaping out a couple of times; the large majority of them were addicts. For the RHS student, another main motive for fishing away their vape was the fear of getting hooked (pun not intended) to vaping. Regardless of the fact that they used the device at least once a day, they said “I didn’t think I was addicted and I didn’t want to be.”

Another student parted ways with their vape, but instead of getting rid of it, they just gave it to another person. “I sold it to a guy that goes to Rocklin High School for some money. It was a good amount of money and it was pretty even from what I bought it for,” they said.

This person had similar motives as the vaping fisherman. They said “I saw stories of how people were dying and everything, and I decided to get my life back into shape and stop.”

However, the decision to sell it raised some questions. The person believed that they were doing the right thing for themselves and getting away from the addictive device, but they were doing it by putting it into the hands of another person. But according to them, they said “I think it’s a personal decision, so it’s up to the person that wants to buy it. I’m not for it anymore, but it’s up to the person.”

As time goes on, we will see if this vaping trend continues to decline. But for now, students at Rocklin High School and beyond are saying goodbye to their vapes.