After seeing Snow White tricked into eating a beautiful poison apple, you would think that we would have learned our lesson about avoiding enticing toxins. But unfortunately, many of us are guilty of indulging in things that look or feel great at first that just can’t be healthy in the long run.
One curious Reddit user recently posed the question, “What’s a modern day poison people willingly ingest?” And readers had plenty to say. From nicotine to social media, we’ve gathered some of the most spot-on responses below, so be sure to upvote the toxic things you’d like to have less of in your life. And regardless of what others try to tell you, remember that there’s never any obligation to partake in these poisons. Take care of yourselves, pandas!
#1
Social Media
Image source: GH057807, Magnus Mueller
#2
Christian Nationalism
Image source: 72Rancheast, Pixabay
#3
Idolizing celebrities
Image source: Advanced-Ad-5008, EllenDeGeneres
#4
Misinformation/disinformation/propoganda/agitprop…
Image source: Spankywzl, Neettttttt
#5
TikTok
Image source: Shadow948, Solen Feyissa
#6
Microplastics
Image source: dido18, Sören Funk
#7
that high fructose corn syrup
Image source: 2948337, happilyunprocessed
#8
Existential dread from running on a capitalistic hamster wheel 40+ hours a week
Image source: _jules_mack, Yan Krukau
#9
Botox..Botulinum toxin, one of the most poisonous biological substances known
#10
Work 5-6 days a week and having no life
Image source: Antony2198, cottonbro studio
#11
Edit: Facebook, Instagram, etc. Any social media where you’re comparing your life against other people’s lives
Image source: Taco-Dragon, fauxels
#12
I’m gonna say Vaping. I knocked it on the head as my New Year’s resolution. First time I’ve been completely nicotine free, and still going strong, but I genuinely felt like I was about to cough my lungs up about 90% of the time vaping. If I have to be honest, I don’t miss either, but I started vaping to stop smoking. I hate seeing young kids and teens do it- ones who wouldn’t have even considered smoking.
EDIT: I’m talking disposable vapes, should’ve clarified that beforehand.
Image source: RG3114, Ruslan Alekso
#13
Energy drinks
Image source: theassassintherapist, Jorge Franganillo
#14
Outrage. It’s straight up poison to your mental health, but we thrive on it, yearn for it. Places like Tik-tok, twitter, and r/PublicFreakout pass it out like dealers for little more than some attention—poisoning people to feel popular. Worse, it’s useful to those in control, so there’s no escaping it. Political parties and activists need you outraged, one-tracked, immune to real empathy, and motivated to solidify their power, so here we are.
Image source: CrimsonYllek, rnz
#15
An excess of almost anything (overly) processed. Most people consume too much meat, too much sugar, too much salt, too much saturated fat, too much caffeine, too many nitrates/nitrites, etc etc. I try to eat relatively healthy but even I definitely consume too much sugar and too much caffeine. It’s so hard to stop once you’re used to it, modern processed foods are pretty addictive and it’s scary.
Edit: I’m aware that not all types of processing are inherently bad. This is not a scientific forum, it’s an AskReddit thread and I’m sure most people know exactly which kind of processing I mean by that.
Image source: mediocre_medstudent1, Raysonho
#16
Those shorts videos that now are almost in every platform, if you have problems with focus and getting s**t done then you know that if you keep watching them you might end up in the next day without even realizing you haven’t done anything yet
Image source: youraveragenotjoe, cottonbro studio
#17
Fox, Newsmax, OANN.
Image source: dubkitteh1, ajay_suresh
#18
Conspiracy theories
Image source: wolf_genie, Marc Nozell
#19
Personally I’m horrendously addicted to nicotine and it’s probably killing me.
Image source: ivanIVvasilyevich, Maksim Goncharenok
#20
Processed sugars
Image source: epatterz, Pixabay
#21
Soda. I used to drink it a lot. I had terrible health issues and sleep issues. I cut it all out. Been maybe 2 years without it. I feel better, I’m sick less, I sleep better, and I function better overall. Just replace it with water. If you live in the western world you most likely have clean drinking water being pumped to your house.
I don’t believe on banning something because I don’t like it, but I do think that s**t is poison. It’s also super addictive. The first couple weeks I cut soda out was rough. Then we give this to kids and it screws up their systems.
Edit: I’ve never had a comment get this kind of attention. Quickly going through the replies I want to say congratulations to everyone who kicked the habit or other ones like smoking. Second there are absolutely people not affected by it. If you drink it in moderation it’s not too bad. I admit I was really bad with it.
My main concern with it is that there’s nothing good about coke or Pepsi. It’s just sugar, caffeine, and addictive ingredients. That’s why I use the term poison. It only has negative effects with it. Now that being said if you enjoy soda than go for it. It’s your life. If you can do it in moderation even better. The thing is we market it so hard to kids and many parents just let them overindulge. Again not all but a good chunk. My parents let me have way too much.
Also all my stuff is anecdotal. I’m not a doctor but every doctor I had when I was younger would tell me I need to stop drinking it. I would tell them I would and then not because I was young. It caught up to me though. If you’re young now and pounding back several cans a day then it’s probably going to hurt you too. I’m not a spring chicken anymore and every one of my friends who was like me was in the same boat with the health issues. If you can keep it in moderation then great, but watch how much you drink.
Image source: EnvironmentalCreme56, Shane
#22
Negativity.
No, not being angry or sad for legit reasons, but just choosing to look at everything in a negative light.
This is coming from an optimist so take this with a grain of salt.
Image source: Ralexcraft, Liza Summer
#23
Those talking videos with like 3 things happening on the screen simultaneously.
Social media is already absolutely atrocious for attention span, using that many distractions on a 30s clip just exponentially enhances that problem.
Image source: hellothereoldben, GBBranstetter
#24
In the US, Red 40. Banned in several countries and restricted in many others. When kids get a “sugar rush,” a lot of the time it is just the effect of red dye 40.
It has been linked to aggression and mental disorders like attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in children. A review of 34 studies estimated that 8% of children with ADHD living in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada may have behavioral symptoms related to synthetic food colors. Studies in children with ADHD have demonstrated that restricting synthetic food dyes from the diet led to significant improvements in symptoms.
Image source: TheKidPolygon, Startaq
#25
24 hour news cycle.
Image source: SuvenPan, NBC News
#26
extremely harsh and self-hating words.
Image source: veroniqueweronika, Engin Akyurt
#27
Attention
Image source: TheresALonelyFeeling, Anastasia Shuraeva
#28
Sitting lol
Image source: Specialist-Archer-86, Ivan Samkov
#29
Smart phones
Image source: cjmartinex, Jonas Leupe
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