Like a cloud of second-hand smoke, there’s a lingering vibe that Generation Z is getting into cigarettes.

Images of Gen Z icons such as Rosalía or Charli XCX lighting up (or even the former presenting the other with a cigarette bouquet) and anecdotes of nihilistic teens vaping abound. But if Gen Zers are smoking more (big “if”), then why are they doing it? Don’t they know it’s bad for them? (They do—but that’s not the point.)

Interestingly, smokers in movies and TV shows today seem to mirror smokers on screens gone by. They “tend to be sort of antisocial rebels,” Romer says. “Hollywood is not afraid, it seems, of showing people smoking, especially if it fits their characters.”

The trend isn’t confined to traditional media, of course. Instagram, TikTok and Twitch influencers are also increasingly lighting up cigarettes.

That’s despite many social media sites having policies against promoting tobacco—but that typically extends only to paid posts. TikTok, for example, does not allow “trading, marketing, or providing access” to tobacco products. Instagram won’t necessarily ban or crack down on an ordinary user posting photos of themselves smoking, but it has rules against users getting paid to promote tobacco products.

As a result, members of Gen Z likely see more content that makes smoking look cool. One Instagram account dedicated to “cigfluencers” features photos of celebrities such as Supergirl star Milly Alcock, The Batman star Robert Pattinson and Heated Rivalry lead Connor Storrie lighting up. It has more than 100,000 followers. On Pinterest, searches for the term “smoking pose” rose 70 percent year over year among American 18- to 24-year-olds, according to fashion data firm Style Analytics.