Investigating Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Use Habits and Contexts: Habits, Locations, and Situations

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), any device that uses aerosolized nicotine for purposes of inhalation, are becoming popular and ubiquitous. As these systems deliver an addictive substance, consumers face a danger of becoming addicted. To understand the motivations and habits surrounding electronic nicotine consumption to aid consumers manage their vaping behavior, we conducted a literature review (N=72) and collected data using an online survey (N = 15). Our specific aim is to identify any triggering factors including physical or physiological states, habits, and contexts associated with ENDS use. Our survey identified several important insights related to e-cigarette consumption: i) contrary to traditional cigarette consumption habits, most participants did not report that there were any habits or contexts associated with their use, ii) most of our participants did not measure vaping in discrete sessions, which is very different from traditional cigarettes, and iii) stress is not a powerful trigger for vaping urges, contrary to traditional cigarettes where stress is considered as one of the key triggering factors. Additionally, we found that the vaping device itself can be used as the most useful device for collecting data on vaping behavior, especially since consumers keep their vaping device on their person or within reach and chest band and wristbands are considered burdensome by the users. These findings have critical implications for the computing community as they indicate that vaping practices and associated habits are significantly different than traditional smoking and warrants developing computational models that would be able to identify vaping triggers, design interventions specific to vaping practices and identify opportune moments to deliver intervention to assist consumers manage their vaping behavior.