Very interesting read, thank you. I do however think that there will be a significant number of folks who will take this information as justification for being an asshole. For example, I remember an interaction with a fella over the website Does the Dog Die? Personally I thought it was nice to know ahead of time if a movie contained animal cruelty or the death of a pet for dramatic effect as I would tend to avoid said movie. He responded by messaging me pictures of dogs that had been tortured and mutilated and laughing about how "triggered" he thought he had made me.
Good teachers are constantly looking for a variety of ways to create safe, stable learning environments for all of their students. Giving students a little head's up that the assigned content gets a bit intense takes nearly no effort, and it is one of many small steps to creating trust and transparency with students. Even if it only helps a handful of students out of the 70-100 a college instructor meets in a year, it's worth it.
But please, next time you say all republicans "deserve to be shot by a firing squad, brutally tortured, gassed and burned in ovens" could you add a trigger warning to your postings?
If trigger warnings were ever really about helping "those who qualify for a probable PTSD diagnosis according to a symptom measure" then maybe finding out that trigger warnings exacerbate the very problem they profess to treat would cause their advocates to reconsider their position. But if trigger warnings are more about allowing "those who self-reported a PTSD diagnosis" to grant themselves a heckler's veto over any and all content, up to including the contents of a college curriculum, then don't expect the loudest advocates for trigger warnings to budge in their positions.
And don't expect the content providers (teachers, news reporters, etc) who have adopted the policy of giving trigger warnings to admit that they did so in error, absent any evidence that trigger warnings work. Instead, expect them to double down. The science is bad, it's such a small effort why do you object, everybody's doing it, etc etc etc.
Very interesting read, thank you. I do however think that there will be a significant number of folks who will take this information as justification for being an asshole. For example, I remember an interaction with a fella over the website Does the Dog Die? Personally I thought it was nice to know ahead of time if a movie contained animal cruelty or the death of a pet for dramatic effect as I would tend to avoid said movie. He responded by messaging me pictures of dogs that had been tortured and mutilated and laughing about how "triggered" he thought he had made me.
Oh ans aren't the ratings on movies a sort of trigger warning? It's not like wanting a heads up on content is some new concept.
@2 Cool story. Do "Critical Theory" next.
Good teachers are constantly looking for a variety of ways to create safe, stable learning environments for all of their students. Giving students a little head's up that the assigned content gets a bit intense takes nearly no effort, and it is one of many small steps to creating trust and transparency with students. Even if it only helps a handful of students out of the 70-100 a college instructor meets in a year, it's worth it.
Essentially, it's no big deal.
Thank you, Katie, for an informative article.
@1 Lissa: I'm sorry you had such an ugly encounter online.
@8: Thanks Auntie G :)
@8 That's sweet Auntie, thanks.
But please, next time you say all republicans "deserve to be shot by a firing squad, brutally tortured, gassed and burned in ovens" could you add a trigger warning to your postings?
Not for me of course, but for a friend.
@9 Lissa: Big hugs, positrons, and VW beeps right back at you. :)
If trigger warnings were ever really about helping "those who qualify for a probable PTSD diagnosis according to a symptom measure" then maybe finding out that trigger warnings exacerbate the very problem they profess to treat would cause their advocates to reconsider their position. But if trigger warnings are more about allowing "those who self-reported a PTSD diagnosis" to grant themselves a heckler's veto over any and all content, up to including the contents of a college curriculum, then don't expect the loudest advocates for trigger warnings to budge in their positions.
And don't expect the content providers (teachers, news reporters, etc) who have adopted the policy of giving trigger warnings to admit that they did so in error, absent any evidence that trigger warnings work. Instead, expect them to double down. The science is bad, it's such a small effort why do you object, everybody's doing it, etc etc etc.
@12: You nailed it.
@10: By any chance is your "friend" an incel writing from prison?