Vol.12 What cigarette teaches us about alcohol

Do you remember when smoking was the thing?

Cars came with built-in lighters.
People lit up on airplanes.

I still remember my first international flight at age five—sitting in the smoking cabin beside my mom, who was holding my newborn sister, while adults around us filled the air with smoke.

But today?

“No smoking” signs are everywhere.
Smoking is the exception, not the rule.
And if you want a cigarette, you have to leave the building and stand in a designated area outside.

Norms shift.

Just because something feels “normal” today doesn’t mean it’s good for us.
And it certainly doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

I believe we’re standing at the beginning of a new wave—
a cultural pivot that mirrors what happened with cigarettes.

But this time, the spotlight is on alcohol.

The similarities are startling:

In the 1950s, smoking was everywhere—glamorized in ads, normalized in media, woven into nearly every social setting.

Then came the research, the advocacy, the public unlearning.

Today? Smoking is heavily restricted, widely stigmatized, and largely understood as a public health risk.

And now, alcohol is starting to walk that same path.

For decades, we’ve glamorized it—on social media, in pop culture, in every “cheers” moment that told us this is how adults relax, connect, belong.

But that story is beginning to shift.