A meta-analysis of the effects of trigger warnings and content notes
(TW: Suicide)<p>I&#x27;d like to share a personal annecdote that I think may be instructive to people who have never found trigger warnings to be useful.<p>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 character committed suicide (and that it may be because you rejected them romantically), and then at the end it&#x27;s revealed they were literally trolling you.<p>I had fairly recently gotten out of a traumatic relationship with someone suicidal. When I would try to leave the relationship, they would threaten to kill themselves. Sometimes they would beg me to kill them. Needless to say, suicide was a difficult topic for me to engage with in an immersive, RPG-like setting.<p>I felt blindsided &amp; stopped having a good time after I was lead to believe the character took their life. I was uncomfortable but didn&#x27;t know what to do but keep playing. When I finished the game and the twist was revealed, I didn&#x27;t feel pathos. I think some of you may relate to the moment you realized the show Lost was never going to resolve the mysteries it was putting forth, that the show runners were throwing things out to grab your attention with no plan to resolve them; like my emotions had been manipulated in a cheap way to engage me. I felt toyed with.<p>I think if I had had the trigger warnings, I would&#x27;ve been able to mentally prepare myself. Or I&#x27;d have the opportunity to decide I didn&#x27;t want to play.<p>I want to make informed choices about the media I consume and how I consume it. Make of that what you will.<p>(This was all many years ago &amp; I&#x27;m doing well.)