I was talking to a couple of friends and occasional smokers today, and both were commenting about how nice it is that Seattle is almost entirely non-smoking now, so they didn’t light up while in town for the MVP Summit. I’ve never smoked, but listening to them, clearly they were not addicts in the hard-core packs-a-day kind, but they would smoke socially or just to be doing something. So it occurred to me, especially given that the three of us had just spent half of lunch each individually checking various Twitter feeds (and email) on our phones, that perhaps Twitter and similar apps on mobile devices are having a positive health impact. Why light up a cigarrette when you can keep your hands busy with your phone checking Twitter, texting friends, or scrolling through emails on your Blackberry Windows Mobile Device?

Any smokers care to affirm or deny that this effect exists? Now if only the constant use of mobile phones didn’t come with its own social costs, especially with significant others…