What if we issued growth alerts instead of trigger warnings?

I’m not a fan of trigger warnings, because they can cause us to go through life anticipating and bracing against possible reminders of suffering, which is disempowering and detrimental to the healing process.

That said, I’ve been blindsided by graphic representations of trauma which threw my nervous system into chaos at a time when I wasn’t equipped to deal with it, and I don’t want to be the cause of that for anyone else.

The discussion around trigger warnings has raised awareness about the prevalence and impact of trauma and helped us more deeply appreciate the power our words have to affect each other, for good or for ill. My hope is that as a society we can empower each other to understand difficult experiences as a prompt to growth, rather than a source of discomfort to be avoided.

Some might say that a trigger warning is not a “stay away” sign but simply an “FYI” sign. Ironically, however, virtually any English speaker will associate the words “trigger” and “warning” with danger, whether they’re a trauma survivor or not. So putting a trigger warning on a piece of content is by itself a small but cumulatively important prompt to our nervous system to head into fight, flight or freeze.

Trigger warnings also have the impact of priming our nervous system to see all the content we’re taking in through the lens of a list of traumatic experiences, boiled down to a couple words: sexual assault, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, etc. This doesn’t provide any context for someone to understand whether these topics are being used gratuitously or intentionally, which might inform whether they want to engage with the content or not. The world is so awash in information and opinions that, whether we’re dealing with traumatic topics or not, it might be helpful to cultivate a habit of distilling our intention behind writing or sharing something before we hit “post” or “send.”

So, instead of trigger warnings, what if we gave growth alerts?

I’m imagining a growth alert as a single sentence at the top of a piece of content that sums up the intention behind writing it or sharing it, and could include a mention of difficult topics covered.

For example:

Growth Alert: This blog post discusses trauma generally in the context of finding alternatives to trigger warnings

Growth Alert: This workshop discusses abuse and assault with a goal of providing support for survivors

Growth Alert: This movie uses suicide as a plot device and is shared for entertainment purposes

What do you think? Is a growth alert more helpful than a trigger warning, or not? What would you like to see at the top of a piece of content that would help you engage with it in the most productive way?