Experiment 1.0: Woke and Worried – The Truth about Trigger Warnings

Attention all humans! We are pleased to announce that the world has now been officially sanitised for your protection. Each word, phrase, and thought will be preceded by a trigger warning to ensure no one is ever discomforted by the unpredictable nature of reality. Enjoy the new, hyper-vigilant, padded experience where nothing ever challenges or surprises you. Remember, life is best lived wrapped in bubble wrap, with a healthy dose of disclaimers. Safety first, folks!

Once a rare sighting, not different from Narendra Modi being humble, trigger warnings have now proliferated faster than cat videos on the internet. They pop up everywhere, from the ominous depths of academic literature to the wild jungles of social media. The debate rages on, with proponents championing the noble cause of mental safety nets for the trauma-informed, while critics argue we might be nurturing a culture more delicate than a house of cards in a hurricane. Some researchers suggest that trigger warnings might be the emotional equivalent of bubble wrap, inadvertently cranking up anxiety levels instead of dialing them down.

Are we fostering a generation of informed, empowered individuals, or are we tiptoeing around an ever-expanding minefield of potential psychological perils? As we navigate this tricky terrain, it's essential to strike a balance between sensitivity and resilience. After all, life doesn't come with trigger warnings.

Yes, in the wild world of trigger warnings, we see those little heads-ups we see everywhere these days. They’re like the signposts on a road trip saying, “Careful, there might be some bumpy terrain ahead!” Initially, they were a way to protect folks with past trauma from stumbling into content that could bring back bad memories. But now, it seems like we’re throwing these warnings around like confetti at a parade. And guess what? It’s stirring up quite the debate. Critics are saying this trend is making us all a bunch of overly sensitive worrywarts, thanks to what’s known as woke culture. Let’s take a closer look at how these trigger warnings are cranking up our collective hypersensitivity and why it’s all part of this woke wave.

Trigger warnings first popped up in online communities to help people with PTSD avoid unpleasant surprises. But oh boy, did they spread! Now, you’ll find them in schools, social media, TV shows—basically everywhere. Professors are giving warnings for classic literature, historical events, and even class discussions that might ruffle some feathers. Social media platforms and entertainment outlets aren’t far behind, making sure we’re always prepared for the next potentially distressing piece of content.

Education should be about challenging our minds, debating ideas, and grappling with different viewpoints—even the uncomfortable ones. 

Enter woke culture, stage left. This is all about being super aware of social injustices and fighting the good fight. Sounds noble, right? But sometimes, in our quest to be ultra-compassionate, we go a bit overboard, turning into the emotional equivalent of bubble wrap. We start overemphasizing emotional safety to the point of censoring or slapping warnings on anything that might cause a flutter of discomfort. And that, my friends, is where the trouble begins. 

Here’s the kicker: throwing around trigger warnings like they’re pineapples at Kanglen can actually make us more anxious. Imagine every time you sit down to watch a movie, someone says, “This might scare you!” Eventually, even a rom-com could start to feel like a horror flick. Research shows that these warnings might not even reduce distress—in some cases, they ramp up our anxiety. It’s like constantly yelling, “Watch out!” People start seeing danger everywhere.

Moreover, normalizing trigger warnings can lead to a culture of avoidance. Instead of learning to handle tough situations, we start dodging them. Think about it: if every little bump in the road had a sign, wouldn’t we all be too scared to drive? This kind of avoidance can stunt personal growth and rob us of diverse experiences and perspectives, which are crucial for our intellectual and emotional development.

In schools, trigger warnings are throwing a wrench in the gears of free expression and open dialogue. Education should be about challenging our minds, debating ideas, and grappling with different viewpoints—even the uncomfortable ones. But when professors feel the need to tiptoe around every potentially upsetting topic, it can lead to a watered-down education. Just imagine the effects of all these restrictions. There is no way that people will be able to confront challenging content and develop critical thinking skills. These are not theoretical concepts but real-world skills that we need to navigate our complex world.

The overuse of trigger warnings reflects a trend towards hypersensitivity and emotional protectionism linked to woke culture.

The overuse of trigger warnings is part of a bigger shift towards prioritizing emotional safety above all else. Woke culture, with its noble aim of protecting people, sometimes equates discomfort with danger. While we should be sensitive to those with trauma, treating normal emotional reactions as something to be avoided at all costs can promote a victim mentality.

This shift is evident on social media, where platforms are quick to slap warnings or bans on content that might offend someone. The intention is to create a safer space, but it often ends up as an echo chamber where people are shielded from differing opinions. This stifles meaningful dialogue and the ability to engage with opposing viewpoints, which are essential for a healthy, democratic society.

Trigger warnings aren’t inherently bad, but like with anything, balance is key. They have their place, but overuse can backfire. We need an approach that respects trauma and sensitivity while also fostering resilience and encouraging engagement with tough material.

Educational institutions should aim to support both emotional well-being and intellectual rigor. This means providing resources for students who might be affected by distressing content while also promoting exposure to a wide range of ideas and experiences. By doing so, they can help students build the resilience and critical thinking skills they need to tackle life’s challenges.

So, there you have it: the overuse of trigger warnings reflects a trend towards hypersensitivity and emotional protectionism linked to woke culture. While the intention is to protect and comfort, this approach can lead to unintended consequences like heightened anxiety, stifled academic freedom, and a society that prioritizes emotional safety over resilience and free expression. We need a balanced approach that supports emotional well-being while promoting resilience and critical engagement with challenging material. By fostering an environment that values both, we can better prepare individuals to navigate the ups and downs of life. And maybe, just maybe, we can pop a few of those bubble wrap bubbles along the way.

Almost done we are.

No trigger warning here; this is just a final note.

Just a heads up that the write-up you just read and the image you’re seeing have been created by AI. Text from ChatGPT and image from Ideogram though, for the text I have added a few real-life examples to trigger a bit further and the image, it has been finetuned with a bit of halftones, blended off and on, and completed with a few textual information. Yep, robots did it! This blog post, put together by an AI language model, dives into the whole deal about trigger warnings, hypersensitivity and woke culture.

Further Readings

While originally created to help individuals with posttraumatic stress symptoms decide whether or not to engage with material that could elicit, or “trigger” symptoms, trigger warnings have been implicated in perpetuating the avoidant behaviors that maintain the posttraumatic stress syndrome.

Bruce, Madeline J., Sara M. Stasik-O’Brien, and Heather Hoffmann. Students’ psychophysiological reactivity to trigger warnings. Current Psychology 42.7 (2023): 5470–5479.

...Findings against trigger warnings included concerns about academic freedom, infantilization of students, and unfair responsibility for professors; whereas findings for included promotion of positive pedagogical values, recognition of human courtesy, and supporting student mental health.

George, Evan, and Angela Hovey. Deciphering the trigger warning debate: A qualitative analysis of online comments. Teaching in Higher Education 25.7 (2020): 825–841.

Public arguments regarding trigger warnings have been politically charged, complex, and data-poor. Recent research on trigger warnings can importantly inform or perhaps even settle some of these debates. The research suggests that trigger warnings are unhelpful for trauma survivors, college students, trauma-naïve individuals, and mixed groups of participants (Bellet et al., 2018, 2020; Bridgland et al., 2019; Sanson et al., 2019).

Jones, Payton J., Benjamin W. Bellet, and Richard J. McNally. Helping or harming? The effect of trigger warnings on individuals with trauma histories. Clinical Psychological Science 8.5 (2020): 905–917.