Why is everyone 'triggered' these days?

[Mylifeisamesssuchamess]

Why does everyone seem to be 'triggered' these days? Surely being genuinely triggered would be rare and would usually happen if you've experienced severe trauma. Surely for most people it's just that they feel pissed off about something, scared or upset and it's not as extreme as being 'triggered'.

but to quote me suggesting an illness you clearly did know what I mean or you wouldn't have understood its an illness 😂

Um, that's because you said in your original post:

anxiety is an illness, anxious a feeling

Very true

Why are people arguing over semantics? Anxiety, when they meant GAD. It doesn't matter, it's obvious what was meant.

Because they were criticising other people for saying they have anxiety over something and claiming these people are exaggerating, when in actual fact that is exactly the same as saying they feel anxious about something.

I disagree that it was obvious what was meant- it's only obvious what you mean when you say what you mean using accurate language.

it does occur to me that you hear of people having ‘nervous breakdowns’ much less these days, or whispering about so and so who suffers with ‘her nerves’.

I think the language has changed more than anything but also awareness of other people’s narratives due to social media. If other people’s lives bother someone to the point that their reaction is contempt then they should probably take some steps to limit their exposure.

Yes I miss being able to have a giggle about funny foreigners or disabled people or people who look different to me. Seems like only yesterfay!

Not every joke was at the expense of others was it though? We could laugh about silly things we ourselves had done without someone wanting to twist it to be about sex or race or disabled people in general

@Mylifeisamesssuchamess because someone needs to give them a kick up the arse and tell them to stop being so bloody pathetic!! between triggered and entitled which is the other one, I am driven up the wall!!!!

Just said on another thread, nobody is happy these days unless they are offended or triggered by something. Life in 2024 is bonkers. 99% of the population need to get over themselves.

There’s no need to be an arsehole about it. Wanting people to make less of a flap about their every negative experience isn’t calling for a return of Roy Chubby Brown.

Resilience is sorely lacking, stoicism as rare as hens teeth. Pathologising emotional responses infantilises those experiencing them and promotes a victimhood mindset.

A film and media lecturer at University of Birmingham recently contacted students to say assigned films will no longer come with Trigger Warnings.

He quoted at length the research from psychologists showing it to be actively unhelpful for those it’s meant to help while predisposing viewers to judge the films negatively.

I work with a small group of women much younger than me, mostly in their early 20's. It is agony. Everything "triggers" them. For example, an older colleague and I started to talk about a wildlife programme we had both watched and the young women in question told us to shut up as it was "triggering" them. Cue a lot of faux hugging one another and hyperventilating. It was like being transported back to Victorian times and I wondered whether I should produce some smelling salts. Sorry, but this is absolutely no good for anyone, least of all women, is it.

Ate you triggered by it? This is my point. All depends on whose ox is gored.

They're making utter fools of themselves.

Oh, grow up! I wasn't even referring to jokes about those topics and you're already jumping to attack me. You have just proved my point exactly! So quick and keen to be offended, even without anything specific to be upset about!

@ginasevern oh my lord they wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in any of my early adult jobs.

Did you just reply "you say what now?"

I think it's very sad and degrading to be honest. The world can be a very unpleasant place and at times we are all going to see and hear things we'd rather not. I'm not advocating a return to the bad old days when everyone should just suck it up, but shutting down factual or educational conversations is a slippery slope which will ultimately be to the detriment of the masses. Edited to add that women used to be accused of, and treated for, hysteria no matter what was wrong with them. As I said, we're on a slipper slope.

The last time my ds told me he was triggered by something inane I got annoyed. Having spent the majority of my adulthood with mental health issues of one sort or another, I promptly told him he was talking out his arse. Same thing when he told me he was "a little ocd".
If he had a proper diagnosis so that what he said was valid I'd have no problem.

Well the pendulum may have swung too far but at least they weren’t sexually harassed out of a job, twice, as I was 25 years ago.

On being touched up by the boss’s best man, at work, through no incitement on my part I was told to suck it up, by the woman CEO and that she’d endured far worse on her youth climbing the ranks.

So they’re doing better than me.

These young women are anxious. Porn, drink spiking, date rape, issues with consent, aggressive experimental sex becoming the norm, for relationships, not to mention cost of living crisis, mill stone of debt that many young people seem to accept as normal these days, job insecurity, no change of owning a home, no pension plan, no clear career progression. Let’s not mention social media and the impossible beauty standards and plastic fantasy fantastic Kim Kardashian, trans women stealing their sports. I’m not saying every young woman is like this, but yes they feel under some kind of attack.

It's an interesting conundrum, and I ofte think of previous generations, both my parents, some who fought in both world wars, and saw some pretty awful things. Or Holocaust survivors. Were they damaged/triggered, yes, in some cases, but others became very stoic, and more able to handle difficult situations because of what they had been through.

I do think we are, particularly the current young generation, seem to be very un-resilient to some very mundane things.

I perceive my responsibilities to myself to include:
[1] knowing what upsets me to the point I don't cope adequately;
[2] understanding why those things upset me so much;
[3] learning to cope adequately.

If you avoid things that upset you too much, you grant them even greater power and will never be able to cope adequately. This is what people mean when we talk about lack of resilience.

I did a lot of therapy, and still use the tools it gave me when something surprises me by "showing me where I still hurt". Nowadays there's a plethora of good books, podcasts, videos and online courses to support this learning, so people can do it without having to fork out for in-depth therapy.

I'm 67 so you don't need to tell me about the "bad old days". I've been sexually assaulted at work more than once and had to listen to more male "banter" than you could write in a lifetime. In other words the most vile, racist, sexist talk and even in one job about how some of them enjoyed fucking animals. I could go on. Yes, I know it's tough for young women these days (it wasn't a bloody picnic in the 70's by the way) but these particular young women are well educated, middle class and from comfortably off, loving families. One of them has just bought a £1.5 million apartment with her hedge fund manager fiance and another has just inherited £500,000 along with a cottage from her grandfather. They are most definitely not devotees of Kim Kardashian either! In fact they're rather alternative types which makes their impersonations of sheltered Victorian ladies even harder to swallow.

Maybe because people are just not happy anymore and want to find something or anything to moan about.
Alot i come across seem to get offended with the most stupid thing making mountains out of mole heaps.
In my case im always happy and always laughing.

Wow, so you minimise your own child’s thoughts when they communicate them to you because…. because you have had MH issues? Doesn’t occur to you that perhaps his recognition of his own difficulties is a healthy step in avoiding bigger problems down the line?

….. I don’t think basing your opinion of a whole generation on the few you knew (and would’ve been unlikely to divulge much to you given your relationship) is quite as strong as you think it is.

My grandmother lived through WWII as a young adult, she lost her baby, contracted TB and then lost her husband to TB after the war leaving her with a newborn.

she was fairly stoic and put her energies into the church community and raising her daughter. She also periodically had to be admitted to mental hospitals for manic depression (as it was called then). That wasn’t talked about at length and you wouldn’t have had a clue unless you happened to witness one of her manic phases or consequential mental collapse. I only know because she suffered an episode whilst visiting us.