The entire point is most of the time it doesnāt come with such an opportunity. Is someone supposed to go through all the effort of skipping classes and assignments just because a label showed up on a topic? No.
Itās not a mental save. Itās merely forewarning. The entire point is it isnātproviding a mental save. In my case, I only gain the benefit because I can skip the content with no other repercussions.
I didnāt have that experience in school (albeit that was 10 years ago) and the only places Iāve seen TWs is the internet.
So maybe itās a situation of time and place when it is and isnāt effective. But in a case where thereās no opportunity to abstain, then I agree with you that itās merely a forewarning and largely useless aside from keeping the topic from causing a bit of whiplash.
Take your train of thought one step further. Because there is no actual tangible benefit to be gained, it means there is no practical difference between a trigger warning and a basic content label. Treating them as anything more is simply glorifying a label.
To be clear, I conditionally agree with you based on the context and setting where itās used. But, thatās what they are. Content labels. And a content label (ostensibly) should allow you to decide in advance if you want to consume the content. If you donāt have a choice in the matter, whatās the point?
Weāve been rating movies for forever for this exact reason. To give people information to decide if they want to consume the content considering the violence, sexual content, language, drug use, etc.
In the case of trigger warnings, theyāre intended to say āthis content is potentially triggering for some people due to this particular topicā (SA, eating disorders, drug use, etc., all have vulnerable people who can be genuinely triggered by reading content about it, especially if itās in detail). And having the opportunity to not consume that content rather than be slapped in the face with it is a mental health save. It has value in that context, which you even described in your own comment. You sometimes like them, and thatās when Iām saying they have value as trigger warnings specifically.
I didnāt think I was being unclear and Iām sorry if I was, but we seem to agree here. You just appear to be saying āall trigger warnings are dumb and donāt help with mental healthā while going on to describe how they (sometimes) help with mental health.
The entire point is most of the time it doesnāt come with such an opportunity. Is someone supposed to go through all the effort of skipping classes and assignments just because a label showed up on a topic? No.
Itās not a mental save. Itās merely forewarning. The entire point is it isnāt providing a mental save. In my case, I only gain the benefit because I can skip the content with no other repercussions.
Gotcha.
I didnāt have that experience in school (albeit that was 10 years ago) and the only places Iāve seen TWs is the internet.
So maybe itās a situation of time and place when it is and isnāt effective. But in a case where thereās no opportunity to abstain, then I agree with you that itās merely a forewarning and largely useless aside from keeping the topic from causing a bit of whiplash.
Take your train of thought one step further. Because there is no actual tangible benefit to be gained, it means there is no practical difference between a trigger warning and a basic content label. Treating them as anything more is simply glorifying a label.
To be clear, I conditionally agree with you based on the context and setting where itās used. But, thatās what they are. Content labels. And a content label (ostensibly) should allow you to decide in advance if you want to consume the content. If you donāt have a choice in the matter, whatās the point?
Weāve been rating movies for forever for this exact reason. To give people information to decide if they want to consume the content considering the violence, sexual content, language, drug use, etc.
In the case of trigger warnings, theyāre intended to say āthis content is potentially triggering for some people due to this particular topicā (SA, eating disorders, drug use, etc., all have vulnerable people who can be genuinely triggered by reading content about it, especially if itās in detail). And having the opportunity to not consume that content rather than be slapped in the face with it is a mental health save. It has value in that context, which you even described in your own comment. You sometimes like them, and thatās when Iām saying they have value as trigger warnings specifically.
I didnāt think I was being unclear and Iām sorry if I was, but we seem to agree here. You just appear to be saying āall trigger warnings are dumb and donāt help with mental healthā while going on to describe how they (sometimes) help with mental health.