Trigger warnings

[Treecko]

I had this topic idea for a while, but wasn't sure whether to place it in "chit-chat" or "discussions & debates", The Roundtable seems like the perfect place for it!

Anyways, on the Internet it's hard to censor and block offensive material. Some people though use what is called a "trigger warning" to help control the content people can and prevent activating people's "triggers". The urbandictionary definition for trigger warning is:

A phrase posted at the beginning of various posts, articles, or blogs. Its purpose is to warn weak minded people who are easily offended that they might find what is being posted offensive in some way due to its content.

Another definition says:

A warning often found on blogs to warn people who could have panic attacks or other extremely negative reactions to words or situations that these "triggers" will be mentioned in the text/video/alternate form of media. This is meant to prevent said person/people from becoming upset due to PTSD or other mental disorders.

There's multiple definitions, but esentailly it's the Internet's version of the MPAA film rating system and other TV/film rating systems that warn people of possible offensive content in online media, but a bit more extreme to where it also tries to prevent people from having panic attacks or other really negative reactions (such post-traumatic stress) to content.

So what are you're thoughts on them. Do you find them useful, annoying, useless, wonderful, etc?

I think there's definitely a reason behind most trigger warnings and I think a good amount have a good purpose. Such as ones for rape, sexual abuse, racism, drug/alcohol mentions, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and even food to any extent. There's certain things that set people off , especially if they've had traumatic experiences involving those things. But some just seem so ungodly ridiculous.

Okay story time. Today on Tumblr , as an April Fool's joke, I pretended to not like one of my favorite actors/celebrity crushes. And I said I only liked them cause they're really popular and I just jumpeed on the bandwagon. And I was like "I like older men, like Steve Buscemi instead." And then I changed my url to "wolfbuscemi" and changed and avatar to him. At the end of the night, I get an anonymous message basically saying "if you're gonna do an April Fools joke, you should tag your post as "misinformation" or "just a joke" or "april fools" cause not doing so can trigger autistic people. And they were like "sarcasm, misleading people, and misinformation can send someone with autism into many different paths of extreme emotion that could lead to them harming themselves/having to go to the hospital." And it's annoying me so much. That's ridiculous imo. Who is gonna be so triggered by a joke of pretending to not like a celebrity, that they feel overcome with emotions and into " extreme emotion that could lead to them harming themselves"? Like even a good amount of my friends who are autistic/have other mental disorders knew it was a joke and are totally fine. Like sure autism comes in multiple levels , but I was very straightforward that I was joking and it was on April Fools day, everyone is telling jokes/pulling pranks and it should be okay! Even the most extremely autistic people should probably know that April Fools Day is for fun right?? Like stop being so insensitive and calm down.

So yeah that's my thoughts what about yours?

 

[Melody]

At the end of the night, I get an anonymous message basically saying "if you're gonna do an April Fools joke, you should tag your post as "misinformation" or "just a joke" or "april fools" cause not doing so can trigger autistic people. And they were like "sarcasm, misleading people, and misinformation can send someone with autism into many different paths of extreme emotion that could lead to them harming themselves/having to go to the hospital." And it's annoying me so much. That's ridiculous imo. Who is gonna be so triggered by a joke of pretending to not like a celebrity, that they feel overcome with emotions and into " extreme emotion that could lead to them harming themselves"? Like even a good amount of my friends who are autistic/have other mental disorders knew it was a joke and are totally fine. Like sure autism comes in multiple levels , but I was very straightforward that I was joking and it was on April Fools day, everyone is telling jokes/pulling pranks and it should be okay! Even the most extremely autistic people should probably know that April Fools Day is for fun right?? Like stop being so insensitive and calm down.

You can safely ignore that person; some people are just that self-entitled...especially on tumblr. Probably just a troll.

Yes; I do believe certain sensitive topics do warrant a "[Trigger Warning]" in some contexts; and I do always appreciate it when people do make that effort to warn those who might become upset about it. The warning serves not only as that; but in at least my case; seeing that message also allows me to place a check on my emotional/instinctive reaction and respond to it appropriately without letting it overcome me.

Topics that have a special significance or relevance to an ongoing controversy are also appropriate to have such a warning attached; and doing so is not required, but attaching that warning shows some thought and compassion for those involved in the controversy or those who might feel very strongly about it and/or wish to avoid the controversy.

 

[Her]

I support trigger warnings with some rational limits.

There are always going to be those who go from 0 to 100 with trigger warnings. But using those people as a cop out is usually the only form of defense against the idea of trigger warnings that people come up with. It just so happens that Tumblr tends to be a buzzword for exaggerated social justice, regardless of how truthful the situations are.

Another argument against trigger warnings is that they only 'coddle' the person, that they're a form of bubblewrap for the mind. These people argue that the only way for the people with anxiety or PTSD to control their issues is not hide from what triggers them.
To an extent, trigger warnings are coddling the person. But it's not coddling, it's simply ensuring that someone isn't needlessly going through more trauma than they already go through. But there are many faults with the argument as a whole. Firstly, it is unlikely that you are in a position where you can decide what is best for the mental health of an individual. Secondly, the so-called coddling is necessary in some situations. There are limits on where I stand on that, but I'll get into that soon. How many people must dread being reminded of their abuser or their rapist? The trauma inflicted upon them is something that one cannot dismiss simply because they don't feel like tagging something or warning someone of the nature of the discussion. On another note, in instances with slurs, it's just common sense. Thirdly, while exposure therapy is a thing and something I agree with, it's not the be all and end all to anxiety and PTSD. It just doesn't work for some people and will do more harm than good. This links back to my first statement.

That being said though, there are situations where the absence of trigger warnings isn't exactly needed, but understandable. Irrational fears like pineapples or whatever are something where I draw the line. Again, the specifics are something that should be left to professionals, but you get my point.

In short, if the idea of trigger warnings is good enough for TV, then it's certainly good enough for social media. Don't jeopardise someone's mental health because of a lazy belief.

 

[Kanzler]

I think the word "trigger warning" is basically ruined for me out of its horrendous abuse over the internets. Like Harley pointed out, rating systems are basically trigger warnings as they outline aspects of the media product that may be offensive or disturbing to viewers. I don't think most people have a problem with that. However, "trigger warning" and "triggered" as a verb have become overused buzzwords and they're obnoxious to me. I think it's better to just spell out whatever's potentially disturbing in words and bold it if you like.

 

[Shining Raichu]

I feel like this notion of 'triggers' is something that manifested itself on Tumblr. I know I rag on Tumblr quite a bit these days but it does have this nasty habit of making a big deal out of every little thing, which grates on me because there's not a lot in life that actually is a big deal.

As such, I have a difficult time supporting trigger warnings. I can't help but feel like people get a little antsy seeing certain things and take this to mean they're being 'triggered'. There really is a flair for the dramatic on the Internet designed to garner sympathy and it's just contributing to this created culture of disclaimers and feeling like you have to explain yourself for every little thing you say.

 

[Grey Wind]

I feel like this notion of 'triggers' is something that manifested itself on Tumblr. I know I rag on Tumblr quite a bit these days but it does have this nasty habit of making a big deal out of every little thing, which grates on me because there's not a lot in life that actually is a big deal.

Trigger warnings have existed in various forms for years. Television uses them all the time. It's stupid to discount a concept just because some teenagers on a blogging website don't understand it. Also, everybody reacts to trauma and other occurrences differently so waving away stuff that you don't personally believe is a big deal is kind of close-minded imo.


Harley basically summed up my opinion. I think it's just basic human decency to warn against potentially triggering content and I don't see why people get so... uppity about it.

 

[Sydian]

I think it's a decent concept. You would warn people before spoiling a movie or video game, why not mention "hey, there might be something sensitive here for people that have PTSD" or something of that sort. However, I will concede it does get a bit overboard, like in cases in the OP. I don't necessarily agree with shielding people from literally everything. There are obvious things like war stories, self-harm, rape, etc that need a trigger warning, but simple things like a prank on AFD shouldn't have to be tagged with a trigger warning.

There's a bit of common sense to it, really. Like I said, major things like rape, war, abortion, etc, that you can look at and think, "this might affect someone, let me tag it for triggers." But we can't be mindful to literally everything that will bother someone, like pretending to not like a certain celebrity anymore and I do think that's where people take it too far. Overall though, I think it helps more people than annoys or gets in the way. We just don't hear about where it helps because the people that have trigger tags blocked aren't seeing them, so they don't exactly know how much stuff they're avoiding. Whereas people that have stories about them like the OP definitely know where they've been a pain.

I hope this all makes sense, haha.

 

[Cherrim]

My gut reaction to the tumblr concept of "trigger warnings" is honestly just "lol". Some people go so over the top and I'm constantly baffled at the idea that any of them can function in the real world if they seriously need "tw: food", "tw: father", or "tw: scopophobia*" just to browse a website without having a panic attack. (*posted on a pic of an anime character vaguely looking in the direction of the viewer, siiigh.)

I do understand the idea, though. Like I make fun of a lot of trigger warnings but I myself appreciate immensely when people tag just about anything to do with eyes. I've never been diagnosed with some sort of phobia because it's not a big enough deal for me to look into that, but I physically don't do well when eyes are involved in just about anything. I had to leave a movie theatre recently and sit in the bathroom for half an hour just because a commercial before the start had a quick shot of a needle near an open eye and I was just about physically ill. And if there had been some sort of warning on that commercial? I would have been saved SO MUCH TROUBLE and my day would have been like 100 times better. I mean, I didn't have a panic attack and it's not something that affects my daily life very often, but it is a personal big deal when I see something like that by accident and I very much appreciate a heads up. So it's not like I don't understand the concept of trigger warnings or think they're stupid--I've made use of them myself and lamented their absence in the past.

I guess part of my issue is that "trigger warnings" aren't the same as "content warnings" for me. I kind of see the word "triggered" used so often in contexts where I don't think it's appropriate. I don't doubt that there are plenty of people who DO get triggered by a lot of things, but I don't think it's totally up to society to shelter them from it. I mean, I have no problem warning people about general things like abuse, violence, etc. And even if a friend tells me they really don't like dogs and would prefer that I tag any posts containing them so they can avoid seeing them... sure, I'll do it. But if someone comes to me with a huuuuuge list of their triggers and says I have to tag EVERY POST that includes any content on this list of generally mundane things? I've told people to just stop following me over something like that before and I'll do it again. I'll generally warn for content but I don't think every single thing in an image or video should be documented so that people can decide whether or not to watch it based on a huge list of possible trigger warnings. Like that's obviously somewhat of an exaggeration but it's definitely something I've seen before. :/

So I guess my opinion is: warnings are important when it's something just about everyone could find offensive or gruesome (ie, how movie and video game ratings work), but trying to police just about everything that you don't really like? Not so good. If you seriously have a problem and seeing something affects your wellbeing, definitely ask your friends to warn you about it and avoid it if you can, but don't demand that everyone everywhere cater to your specific issue and go out of their way to coddle you away from it. I don't think it should work that way.

 

[Universe]

As someone who has been triggered into tears by an untagged rape roleplay and as someone who has accidentally triggered others, I can affirm that warnings are nice.

With the case of that roleplay I cried about, sometimes the trigger doesn't have to be from simply seeing a thing but from knowing that people are taking part in the thing and enjoying it. I fully and completely understand that it's just a story, and that putting those elements in a story is a completely socially acceptable thing to do; as I've written stories with those elements before too. But when you do it back and forth untagged on a public website... yeah, that's where you can create problems.

Some triggers seem ridiculous, like food as mentioned above. But you gotta keep in mind that it's probably not actually the food itself causing emotional distress, but the thoughts and feelings the person associates with food. Maybe they are struggling with an eating disorder, for instance. Triggers can seem silly at times but you just never know someone's story... so it's important to respect the things they want to be warned about.

However, some people do use the word trigger when they don't actually mean a trigger-- such is the case with Tumblr 50% of the time. Just proceed with an open mind on a site like Tumblr and try not to group the people who misuse trigger with the people who actually use it correctly. You just never know when someone is serious.

 

[starseed galaxy auticorn]

Wow... what you said in your story is ridiculous even coming from someone who is autistic right now. An autistic person isn't going to care. I don't see how it would be triggering for them at all. That's just bullshit. That person must not know a whole lot about autism.

I mean if you were doing something related to rape or self-harm or anything of that nature, yeah... then I'd probably consider it triggering. However, your story about what that person said actually makes me laugh. That's just... it's absolutely ridiculous. I actually find what the other guy said about autism more offensive if anything. I mean, you're right. Autistic people aren't retards. I'm pretty sure a majority of them are going to know what April Fool's is. Let alone, even if they saw what you were doing... I highly doubt it's going to bother them. Just... I don't know like... wow. Even if you hadn't told me this, and I saw what you were doing on Tumblr, I'd just shrug it off and move on because it's not like you have a picture of a black widow spider or something, right? If it was something like that then yeah... THAT would be triggering. However, it wouldn't be due to my autism. It'd be due to my profound fear of spiders.

Trigger warnings should apply more to things that actually RELATE to something. For example, if you decided to post a picture of someone's arms with self-harm scars, you would say it as a possible trigger warning to people who have or had self-harmed. Stuff like that is very triggering to people that experience such things. If you're just fooling around for April Fool's like you said you were doing, I don't get how it's triggering. It sounds like the person was just trying to be an ass. Maybe it was something he was triggered by yet didn't want to admit!

 

[Sydian]

Wow... what you said in your story is ridiculous even coming from someone who is autistic right now. An autistic person isn't going to care. I don't see how it would be triggering for them at all. That's just bullshit. That person must not know a whole lot about autism.

When I first read his story, I assumed this person was a freshman education major going off the gun because they spent their day in their Children with Special Needs/Exceptionalities class learning about autism to kick off autism awareness month and then they saw that prank and went off the handle. That made it funnier to me. lol But yeah, I think that would offend people with autism more than the fact a prank wasn't tagged as a trigger.

 

[Bellsprout]

im okay with trigger warnings within reason. but i notice (TUMBLR) that people request trigger warnings for things that are really unreasonable. i think it condones people to be extra sensitive, which is getting to be a bit much. i'm sorry but life is full of both pleasant and unpleasant things and i am not here to hold your hand and shield your eyes from those things. i've seen users get nasty asks yelling at them for what they choose to post and that they should put trigger warnings. like i said i can understand if it's something within reason, but even then it's not your blog. i'm sorry, but people can post whatever they want and if you don't like it then take it upon yourself to maybe not follow them.

 

[Her]

I find it interesting that basically every post in this thread prefaces the cons part of their argument with 'Tumblr'. Although there are honestly some freaks on the site, this annoys me purely because it comes off as a word of mouth kinda thing, or that one's judgement is based only on the absolute worst stereotypes that cynics can find.

 

[Universe]

I find it interesting that basically every post in this thread prefaces the cons part of their argument with 'Tumblr'. Although there are honestly some freaks on the site, this annoys me purely because it comes off as a word of mouth kinda thing, or that one's judgement is based only on the absolute worst stereotypes that cynics can find.

Idk, I've been on Tumblr for 4 years now and it's the only website I've seen firsthand get a little overbearing with what's being labeled as trigger warnings. Except often the term "trigger" has been used in place of, "that makes me uncomfortable" on Tumblr. But that's just what I've observed over the years.

*shrugs loudly*

 

[Twilight-kun]

Hahahaha, that's cute

You can post anything there and if you're famous or it gets shared around a lot, you'll always end up making someone angry, especially if it's a parody or something

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I'm pretty sure I just angered a least 5 people

They're so sensitive

 

[TheAugmentedScyther]

4chan's Tumblr raid was the funniest thing I've seen in ages. They had it coming for them...

 

[Centipede Chan]

I understand trigger warnings but some people use them wrong, and these ass holes in my school make fun of them and make jokes of shit like "lol that color blue is triggering me," which isn't funny at all.

Don't be a dick about trigger warnings, use them right, and for the love of Jesus riding on an Arceus, don't make fun of people who are triggered by things you find stupid to you.

 

[ForgottenPass]

autistic people.

Do be careful when you say that. There's too many socially awkward people on the net that use AS(D) to justify their lack of social skills and some even use it as an excuse to not improve them. Please do not use it like that and make it subsequently worse for the people suffering from an actual disorder.

On topic, you went inside the internet, you have no right to complain. If you don't like it, you can turn the screen off and go do something else.

 

[Aljam]

I'm a little nervous to talk about this discussion, as I've experienced vitriolic conversations involving similar topics of discussions but I'll say this:

As someone who has had Anxiety, trigger warnings do nothing to help. It's really easy to fall into a trap of avoiding things that may find traumatic. If you can't face trauma and avoid it, how are you ever going get over it?

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I have a few triggers myself, but I shrug them off quickly, so I wouldn't let them affect my life. But yes, the majority of people on Tumblr get triggered way too easily over stuff that aren't as serious as major issues like rape.