Thread: Which one is least harmful in our life?

a)Cigarette
b)Food
c)TV
d)Alcohol
e)Drug
f)Internet
g)Other[write your opinion]


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Please help me, inform your friends to answer this question.I need its result.

All are as harmful as the rest, for most people are weak willed enough to slip into one.

It's too difficult to say....all are equally disastrous and capable of bad influences. You should include sex in there. After all, no one can deny that that is a bloody nightmare for god knows how many people.

Any of these behaviours could be used to fill a void or used in excess as a maladaptive coping mechanism, especially to those prone to addictive tendencies

Why is internet included in the list ?

lol im sure there is a 12 step program for those who spend far too much time on the internet rather than in "real life"

There should another program for those who spend all time in "real life" to teach them about how great and useful the internet is

HAHAHA. food is harmful, stay away that stuff will EAT YOU ALIVE!

I have an eating disorder, I literally die if I don't eat

Food is the least harmful on that list, though some people have a childish view on food. Kids eat because something tastes and looks good, lots of them never learn otherwise. No one likes plain oatmeal or rice it's got to be spiced up or sweetened, no one just eats spinach or lettuce, they have to be drowned in dressing. People's standards are too high, but food is definitely the least harmful, it is actually quite important. Food is an essential part of a balanced diet.

The fact that America wastes 40% of our food, THAT is globally harmful. But I don't think that's what your asking.

as for "other"....
fresh air is the least harmful thing in life: I don't have an opinion on it, God told me so it must be true

Well if I were to be picky about your points, drug and alcohol should really be placed together in terms of harmfulness, as should cigarettes in a way. Even though cigarettes do have a lot worse in them that isn’t just the drug involved, I can’t imagine many people going out and smoking nicotine free fags.

As mentioned those are all things which affect addictive profiles or simply become addictive, be it for a known reason (the drugs, food and the above mentioned sex) or for less understood reasons like T.V or internet.

All in all, I would have to say that food is least harmful. It’s overeating that causes any harm. Next to that probably internet and then TV, *that is I think those before are not harmful, followed closely by alcohol and last but not least, cigs.

Depending on which drug you are talking about, they could be slipped in a number of spots, for example, once a day aspirin might sit close to TV and alcohol, where as heroin would sit past cigs.

Statistically, the most harmful is cigarettes. For example : the number of people that are killed by cigarettes in the USA each year is about 400,000.

This makes pretty much everything else look like Mother's milk.

yes but can you tell me some of the other things on the list do not cause heart disease, anxiety, depression, cancer, diabetes... just because they don't say "He died because he ate too much and watched too much TV"

aspirin can kill you if you drink alcohol with it or if you have that rare problem where... um... aspirin kills you

mixing things can be worse then having them on their own... for example, sleeping pills and alcohol once is worse than a lifetime of cigarettes

im sure you want to keep it simple and consider everything on it's own... but when you watch tv you want to eat more, and when you eat more you want to chill out more, and probably watch tv, or surf the internet, these things add up, and can't be considered on their own

smoking cigarettes and drinking booze and doing drugs each makes you eat less, this makes your insulin resistance sky rocket and causes hypertension

eating while watching tv or using the internet makes most people eat faster and chew less, this causes throat, stomach and colon cancer

the internet and tv use your eyes a lot, this stressess your nerves and can cause anxiety and depression if your low on B vitamins, electrolytes and fats

Originally Posted by marcusclayman

aspirin can kill you if you drink alcohol with it or if you have that rare problem where... um... aspirin kills you

As far as I’m aware (and I’m not a pharmacist or doctor, but a mere undergrad) aspirin and alcohol is not a lethal mixture. As long as you don’t take more than the safe amount of alcohol that is (i.e. 3-4 units I think for a man).

Aspirin can cause stomach bleeding as it has a double whammy effect – inhibits synthesis of molecules which protect the stomach lining and inhibits platelet/clot formation. Thus stomach bleeding can occur more often when taking aspirin. Certain people are also at more risk from this, if you suffer from stomach ulcers for example.

And if you take too much booze, it can cause stomach bleeding. So there is a danger. But only if you take too much booze, otherwise it would seem relatively safe. Still I advise it best not to drink while on any medication (prescription or not) as there is always that slim chance of some adverse effect. In the above case, one could easy be more sensitive to alcohol causing bleeding. I just feel that the word kill there is not the right word at all.


And that rare problem (Reyes syndrome?) is no different in essence to adverse effect one might have with peanuts or penicillin. Its cause is unknown and I’m not suggesting it’s an allergic reaction, just stressing that you do take a chance taking any drug.


Feel free to correct anything I have said if you can prove it to be false. I haven’t exactly studied on aspirin or alcohol.


That said nice point marcusclayman. Mixtures of the above (OP) mentioned can indeed combine to give more serious problems. To stress that point, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t partake in at least 2 of the above to some extent and when you include the “other” portion, whatever you want to add, I can see that number rising to at least 5.

* Edit - I had to assume that people understand what analgesic’s are in what products they are talking about*

Hello marcusclayman

Originally Posted by marcusclayman

aspirin can kill you if you drink alcohol with it or if you have that rare problem where... um... aspirin kills you

Overdosage of the active ingredient acetaminophen in Tylenol could cause severe liver damage. Generally, most medicines have ingredients that are processed through the liver. Because alcohol is also processed through the liver, consuming this substance with perscription medicines could potential become a deadly mixture and overly tax the liver's ability to rid the body of toxins.

Acetaminophen (or Paracetamol) is not aspirin.

Acetaminophen is quite dangerous indeed, if taken in sufficient quantities, it overloads the Cyt P450 metabolism pathway (conjugation), and metabolism exceeds the availability of glucuronic acid and glutathione. These are cofactors (conjugates) in its metabolism. Without these cofactors metabolism is pushed through a route which instead of detoxification it produces a metabolite that is very toxic to the liver. I believe that’s why it’s a dangerous compound to take too much of because once the cofactors run out, it suddenly becomes a lot more toxic.

If you abuse any organ with continuous insult that exceeds the natural ability to cope, then yes damaging effects will always follow.

That is indeed why the above “abuses” (to which the question was posed, which is least harmful?) are harmful – they are taken in excess, beyond the body’s control, and eventually damage is caused. TV and internet are damaging because in excess they remove “activity” which is needed to help cope.

Originally Posted by goodgod3rd

Acetaminophen (or Paracetamol) is not aspirin.

Of course not. However, I believe this was the analgesic Marcusclayman was referencing through his comments.

Ah I see, well then we have cleared that up pretty well then so

Although typically (especially here) I don’t make those assumptions, always gets me in trouble. Just out of curiousity is there anything on the top list which you would suggest as being least harmful? I like this post as It has made me think a lot.

my bad, yeah I tend to absorb a lot of information that I've heard and not know whether it is true or not... the bad part of having a good memory... I should have a disclaimer as my signature huh... but then when I am talking about something i have an idea of, noone listens... it's a double edged sword... i guess i just shouldn't talk like i know what im talking about huh? simple enough

thanks for clearing that up, I was referring to Reyes syndrome BTW.



someone PMed me about making fun of the idea of food being harmfull, I wasn't thinking. Not to justify my apathy, but I have an eating disorder too so I know how serious they can be, so if I hurt anyone suffering from an eating disorder I'm sorry.

Hmm, "least harmful?" I think the least harmful would be the one least injurious to health through excessive exposure or abuse. With this as my guide, TV would be the least harmful with the internet a very close second. Although the sedentary activity these interests promote could be equally injurious to health, I think the internet may be more harmful than TV because it is not subject to quite as much regulation as is TV.