A change at your pace
Thinking about stopping.
Not a lecture and not a pledge. If you’ve tried before and it didn’t stick, that’s the normal experience rather than a character problem — most people who stop for good have several goes at it first.
A craving right now?
You can take a small pause without deciding about quitting today.
Help me through this momentFree, by text, no account
Both of these are free, neither asks who you are beyond a phone number, and both are built for your age group rather than adapted from something written for a 50-year-old who smoked for 30 years.
Teens and young adults
Daily texts that adjust to your age and to whether you have actually set a quit date. Some of the messages are written by other people who used it, which is the part people say made a difference.
Over 200,000 people enrolled. A randomised trial published in JAMA Internal Medicine found roughly 40% higher odds of quitting among 18 to 24 year olds.
truthinitiative.org/thisisquitting ›13 to 17
Six to eight weeks of daily texts, built for this age group rather than adapted from an adult programme. Text STOP any time to end it, or HELP for options.
teen.smokefree.gov/txt-teen ›Truth Initiative runs a separate line for parents and guardians trying to help someone quit. Text QUIT to (202) 899-7550.
What the first week actually does
Irritability, trouble concentrating, restlessness, and wanting one constantly. It peaks in the first few days and drops off after that. Knowing it’s a schedule rather than a permanent state is most of what gets people through it.
Cravings come in waves that pass in a few minutes. Nearly everyone who gets through it lands on the same trick: have something to do for those few minutes instead of trying to out-willpower them.
Days two to five are usually the worst of it. If you make it past that stretch, the physical part is mostly behind you and what’s left is habit, which is a different and slower problem.
If you’re not trying to stop
That’s a normal place to be and this page isn’t going to argue with you. You can ask anything on the chat without anybody trying to talk you into a quit date.