You find them everywhere as you walk the streets on the sidewalk, in your classes under your desk, in restaurant at the sides and bottom of your tables, or under the seat of a movie theater. You find them in the mouths of a number of people you see daily who stare off with a chewing motion on their jaw, sometimes while they play with their hair twisting it on their fingers, or while they make popping sounds by sucking in air as they hold the gum on their teeth, or blowing them up into a huge bubble in front of their face while risking getting it stuck to their face if it were to pop. Why do we thrust to get through the lollipop as soon as possible? in order to reach a raw and dull tasting gum with a flavor that will only last a bit of our chewing. Or on your way back from Tijuana during the 2 hour or more wait in the line of cars/traffic, you’ll have children walk up to the window of your car and try to sell you some gum while you’ll either buy some or try to roll your windows up before they get there. You find it in stores with sometimes a whole section of them, and with a variety of shapes, sizes, and flavors that range from minty freshness to sweet peach or strawberry flavors. It can be found basically anywhere in a variety of forms. Yet, what is our obsession with gum? Year after year there is always some new use of it.
I find it to be universal for everyone from being young children and seeking the sweetest kind of gum to becoming adults and seeking mint flavored gum to prevent bad breath. Now days anyone can chew gum, because has been forced into a number of uses. We have these numbers and numbers of different types of gum. The four main uses I can think of are for candy, health, craving/habit, and oral hygiene. For candy there are mainly only the fruity flavors and its only purpose is to satisfy the sweet tooth. For health we find gum with vitamins or even for diets. For people who are in a diet or who smoke there’s gum that’s supposed to combat there craving of eating more or smoking. There’s use of gum to combat stress and anxiety, said to relieve tension for better concentration. Then there’s the gum for oral hygiene. There is gum said to whiten your teeth, clean teeth, and freshen breath.
So, why does our obsession with gum exist? I honestly don’t think it only one reason but a variety seeing how they mold into the needs of so many different types of persons. Is it an addicting habit to chew on something to relieve pressure or anxiety of something or do we buy it because it promises so much in the act of simply chewing.
I agree, gum is everywhere. I, however, do not like gum and cannot eat gum for more than five minutes. The constant chewing begins to bother my jaw, yet I have friends that will chew on the same piece for hours. One girl on an old volleyball team, Karen, could not play unless she had a piece of gum in her mouth. Karen had grown so accustomed to always be chewing it that she did not seem to function without gum. I can understand why some people will chew gum as an alternative for smoking or an occasional cure for bad breath, but some habitual gum chewers, like Karen, seem to chew gum without good reason. It makes me wonder as well why some have such an obsession with gum.
ReplyDeleteWOW, I definitely agree, It’s a super addiction we had. It's weird because gum played a major impact in my high school years. For some reason I seemed to have a habit on chewing on gum everyday during class, and it wasn’t just me. Once someone started chewing on gum, everyone started asking one another for gum. Sometimes my friends and I would find ourselves chewing the same piece of gum we put in our mouth in the morning till after school. It was weird. But besides that chewing gum habit many people seem to have, did you know that there's a type of gum called Freedent? I couldn't help but start laughing at my dad when he told me about it. At first I thought it was just some bootleg trident, but he explained that Freedent were for people who had dentures like him. That type of gum prevented it from sticking on his dentures. Interesting isn’t it. Enjoyed your blog X]
ReplyDelete--staCEy e.
I completely agree. I think gum is a very good treat for many reasons. It actually burns calories (chewing), overpowers bad breath, some gum helps with whitening and strengthening teeth, and of course fulfills the sweet-tooth craving. Although gum is of all greatness, it leads to littering, people popping it in class and other quiet areas, and especially develops moochers. I carry gum nearly every day, and people have caught on. Therefor a lot of times I am asked for a piece but have began to tell them no. A single piece of gum may seem like a cheap item, but when the same person asks you for a piece or two every time you see them it is quick to build up.
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