The New Cigarette

Between Smoke and Ash

All addictions are a low-level search for God.

—Carl Jung

Above: Two bad habits, one good hand.

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We tap instead of toke.
We prompt instead of puff.
We don’t inhale smoke; we gulp distraction.
Different fuel, same fix.

Secondhand smoke becomes secondhand attention—a grey haze that keeps us hovering above the surface of our own lives.

We once lit the end of a cigarette.
Now the glow comes from a phone,
and the thing burning is us.
Either way, something goes up in smoke.

We don’t smoke a cigarette; we scroll a feed.
Both calm the nerves.
Both cloud the air.

The itch didn’t change.
The scratch did.
A smoke became a scroll, an ember a glow.
Each deadly in its own way.

A cigarette takes your lungs.
A phone takes your mind.
One shortens life by breath.
The other life by feed.

Different habit.
Same hunger.
Either way, a life gets snuffed out.

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Per my about page, White Noise is a work of experimentation. I view it as a sort of thinking aloud, a stress testing of my nascent ideas. Through it, I hope to sharpen my opinions against the whetstone of other people’s feedback, commentary, and input.

If you want to discuss any of the ideas or musings mentioned above or have any books, papers, or links that you think would be interesting to share on a future edition of White Noise, please reach out to me by replying to this email or following me on Twitter X.

With sincere gratitude,

Tom