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A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

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Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#121

Post by Mezzie »

TheGhostOfBoris wrote: post #115
catiopatio wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm often triggered by depictions of loving families. What does “triggered” actually mean, specifically? Regardless, that seems like a serious mental health issue. You are responsible for and in control of your own emotions. If you don’t feel that’s true, you need to spend more time in serious therapy, not demanding “trigger” warnings.

Its disappointing on HN to see posts like yours voted down, presumably because somebody disagrees with it, rather than them taking the effort to post a sensible rebuttal.

I downvoted because before the comment was edited, it contained a snide 'that sounds like a you problem'.

Others may have been reacting to that as well as it's not a productive addition to the discussion. (Also why I was snarky in my reply, which I will not be editing.)

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#122

Post by Mezzie »

im3w1l wrote: post #117
Mezzie wrote: post #55

I struggle with trigger/content warnings as someone with PTSD stemming from severe childhood neglect/abuse (e.g. I was allowed to just rot in the basement for a week with a fever of 104+ as a child). The reason is because there seems to be a standardized list of 'real' triggers that people agree on, and I'm often triggered by depictions of loving families. Which nobody is ever going to warn for. I also have major dis…

Apologies if I misunderstand, but what you describe sounds like envy. And it is a pretty common thing, and something that people are in my experience willing to make certain accomodations for. "Flexing" too much on the less fortunate is considered to be in poor taste. Maybe they aren't willing to go as far as you'd need though.

Personally, I've learned to deal with it. (Not saying everybody else should, but that I personally have coping mechanisms in place precisely because there's no way anybody could guess my triggers).

It's not envy. It's a trigger because one of the women who abused me was really into socially appearing to be a good mother and therefore that was part of the 'act' and I was forced into acting like part of those happy families. So I tense and have emotional reactions because my brain is fucked up and therefore reads the depictions as abusive.

(I have a great deal of envy - I'm working on it - but that means I definitely know the difference!)

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#123

Post by tomjen3 »

drewpc wrote: post #6
sbf501 wrote: post #2

"Overall, we found that warnings have no effect on affective responses to negative material nor on educational outcomes (i.e., comprehension). However, warnings reliably increase anticipatory affect. Findings on avoidance were mixed, suggesting either that warnings have no effect on engagement with material, or that they increase engagement with negative material under specific circumstances. Limitations and implicat…

Does NSFL mean "Not Safe For Life"? I wasn't familiar with this term before and have never seen content labeled with it.

Yes.

The trouble with NSFW is that it covers things you want to seek out, e.g porn, but also things you might want to avoid, e.g war pictures.

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#124

Post by tomjen3 »

maxbond wrote: post #32

(TW: Suicide) I'd like to share a personal annecdote that I think may be instructive to people who have never found trigger warnings to be useful. Once a friend of mine wanted to show me a visual novel. They skipped the trigger warning at the beginning because they felt it was spoilery. We played through the whole thing in one night; about halfway through the story (given the path I took), we were lead to believe a c…

I am sorry that happened to you. However that points to a real problem: how do you make a CW system without being spoilery?

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#125

Post by tomjen3 »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #47
Spivak wrote: post #38

They seemingly didn’t study the thing that people actually want the answer to. Given a person who is triggered by a specific type of content do they avoid things labeled with that specific type of content more than if it was unlabeled? It’s one of those things that seems so obviously true when you talk to people. To me this study is actually huge to support trigger warnings and content labels. They don’t cause people…

I definitely use content warnings to avoid stuff. If I see suicide, "that's a nope from me dawg". I feel like I'm not asking for much here. :(

How would you have a CW: suicide without spoiling that a suicide will happen?

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#126

Post by ogurechny »

So it is mostly a shared superstition. “Grugg see four rocks like a paw, Grugg must say doo-doo for good tiger hunt”, except we shouldn't consider ourselves to be much different from Grugg. Of course, it's not the only example of modern day religious practices (cough… cough… masks)…

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#127

Post by romwell »

vorpalhex wrote: post #20
romwell wrote: post #18

This study seems to be pretty limited regardless of how it's carried out. People seem to be hung up on the new term "trigger warning" when we've had content warnings since time immemorial. Nobody seems to be writing the articles on "efficacy" of movie ratings, or putting "18+" labels on content. We, as a society, understand that not all content is suitable for all audiences... when it comes to sex, and sex only, it s…

The study was about content warnings and anxiety triggers.

My comments were about the study, and how it fundamentally fails to achieve the state objective.

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#128

Post by ogurechny »

wpietri wrote: post #21
civilized wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine the things people consider NSFL depend on their personality and background. These studies seem like they'd be more illuminating if they looked at e.g. rape content warnings for rape survivors. Effects on the rest of us matter as well, but shouldn't be considered the whole story.

Exactly. If I'm going to warn people about content, it's because of what those specific people might struggle with. It was something I understood better once I found a piece of pretty ordinary media traumatic. And here I should say: content warning for cancer and death. Some years back my mom was getting treated for a brain tumor. It was a glioblastoma, and as one of her surgeons explained, "This is the thing you wil…

Actually, there's plenty of philosophical works that analyze zombie movies from various perspectives. They are still a product of human mind providing various excuses to kill humanoid creatures en masse, and we can use them as a mirror to peek behind the facade. You happened to see it without the candy wrapper of “it's just entertainment”, and the reaction was natural. In fact, trying to keep the face because “people around are having fun” would be the inhuman choice, just as the idea that people whose relatives are dying should better stay in hospitals and their own homes, and get some special “treatment” to keep others comfortable.

In the same manner, those who've seen the war may not react well the “Top Gun” style ass kicking with a happy end. There problem here is not within them.

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#129

Post by maxbond »

tomjen3 wrote: post #124
maxbond wrote: post #32

(TW: Suicide) I'd like to share a personal annecdote that I think may be instructive to people who have never found trigger warnings to be useful. Once a friend of mine wanted to show me a visual novel. They skipped the trigger warning at the beginning because they felt it was spoilery. We played through the whole thing in one night; about halfway through the story (given the path I took), we were lead to believe a c…

I am sorry that happened to you. However that points to a real problem: how do you make a CW system without being spoilery?

From where I'm standing, either making them opt-out, or making them out of band.

I've never really found them to be spoilery though? So perhaps I'm the wrong person to ask.

Re: A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes

#130

Post by kosievdmerwe »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #104
kosievdmerwe wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, interestingly IMDb has a pretty detailed parents guide. For example for Shrek: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126029/parentalguide

Ok. I had no idea IMDb keeps notes like this. I dutifully checked Star Wars and hand is indeed mentioned[1]. Thank you! [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/parentalguide?ref_=tt_s...

Yeah, it's something I heard about someone checking before taking their kids to a movies. I think it's great, since the age rating doesn't tell you enough to be able to choose what your young children should be exposed to.
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