Even before the Internet, social networks existed. You've probably heard of the small world phenomenon, also known as six degrees of separation. That is, on
average, each person is separated from every other person by six intermediaries
in a chain of contacts. Pioneering work on this phenomenon was done by social psychologist Stanley
Milgram in the late 1960s.
As it happens, network phenomena apply to smoking cessation. According to the researchers...
Smoking behavior spreads through close and distant social ties, groups of interconnected people stop smoking in concert, and smokers are increasingly marginalized socially.
For example, if your spouse quits, the chances that you will continue smoking decrease by 67%. If a friend quits, the odds decrease by 36%. Strangely enough, if someone in your social network quits smoking, and you don't even know the person, it could affect your smoking behavior just the same.
Check out my HND piece on this.
