Is your activism a trigger?

Have you ever had the crippling fear which arises from the most trivial things: an Instagram story, a joke made by a friend or watching a movie/tv show scene. For everyone this fear is different, sometimes it's not that serious, a fear of getting their results or remembering their encounter with stage fright. For a few, this fear stems from past traumatic experiences which most people around them may not even know about or have not the slightest idea how this incident still affects them. In my experience, this fear arises when triggered. 

The scale of how much each occurrence, trifling or serious, affects a person wholly depends on them. I’m not an expert here, but there are things related to this topic that are not spoken about as much as they should be and I feel like sharing them. Read on till the end of the post to see how you can share your own thoughts and experiences related to this topic on this blog as well.

Let’s talk about how social media can be a trigger to an account of different issues. I am only thoroughly familiar with a few social media platforms which are Whatsapp, Instagram, Tiktok and Snapchat mostly but my focus in this article will be my experience with Instagram - social activism done through the platform and how it can be a trigger for some people.

 

I'm sure if you are on Instagram or Twitter, the past few weeks have been overwhelming in terms of the information you view on the platform. Serious issues related to what is happening in countries such as Afghanistan, Lebanon, Haiti, Algeria, Turkey, Greece, Palestine and many others are being shed a light on. You may have also seen disturbing pictures of an elephant, news articles horribly critiquing Sri Lankan Olympic athletes and articles against the critiques, posts about the sexual harassment and death of a minor in a politician’s house in Sri Lanka and the impact of Covid-19 in Sri Lanka and it’s worsening situation. Of course, I’m sure there may have been several other major things on the platform which were shared by many, these are some of the things I came across.

I’m going to start off by saying, it is good to share information and educate people on what is going on in the world we live in. As the youth with access to mobile phones and the internet it is our duty to stay informed and make a difference where we can, which can be through raising social awareness. However, what content you share and how you share it really makes a difference. Sharing something on your story just because all your friends are sharing it and it ‘seems’ to be true is how false information is credited and in the process the actual information to be shared on said topic is lost or discredited as false. 

Furthermore, blindly sharing graphic content without at least a trigger warning may impact people negatively on a much larger degree than make a positive or lasting difference. The previous statement is especially important if you have followers below the age of 14 on your account; therefore in my opinion, as the generation which is applauded for social media activism, it is best we follow a few steps before posting on areas which are considered highly sensitive, whether it be political discourse, mental health or news headlines.

• Do a fact check before posting anything.

If you are posting about situations in other countries or your own, make sure you repost information from credited sources such as reputed new channels or journalists and bloggers who are known to convey correct facts. Even though everyone on your followers list may be posting something, it might be good to make sure it is correct information before posting it yourself, trust me I’ve also posted things without fact checking, it happens, but I’ve learnt it is best to be mindful about the facts that you are sharing.

I have mentioned a few issues happening in the world right now in the previous paragraphs, if you would like to educate yourself on them or do a fact check on any other information, here is a list of a few credible sources which I have gathered after speaking to a spectrum of people and how they obtain their information:

News Channel Websites :

BBC World News - https://www.bbc.com/news/world

CNN World News - https://edition.cnn.com/world

Al Jazeera News - https://www.aljazeera.com/

Russia Today - https://www.rt.com/

DW news - https://www.dw.com/

Google News - https://news.google.com/

AdaDerana Sri Lanka - http://www.adaderana.lk/

News First Sri Lanka - https://www.newsfirst.lk/

News in Asia - https://newsin.asia/

Newswire Sri Lanka - https://www.newswire.lk/


Instagram and twitter Pages :

Azzam Ameen : https://twitter.com/AzzamAmeen

Heshan Desilva : https://www.instagram.com/heshdesilva/

https://twitter.com/HeshdeSilva

Dasuni Athauda : https://www.instagram.com/dasuniiiii/

https://twitter.com/AthaudaDasuni

Jamila Hussain : https://twitter.com/Jamz5251

Munza Mushtaq : https://twitter.com/munza14

Marianne David : https://twitter.com/MarianneDavid24

Shafiya Musheen : https://www.instagram.com/srilanka.with.shaf/

• Post a trigger warning before releasing any graphic content.

You can stay quiet about issues or get vocal when you have the correct information, either choice is up to you. When you do get vocal however, some information which you share which may not be sensitive to you personally can affect other people quite negatively and may even be mentally harmful and thus the best solution for this in my opinion is posting a trigger warning before you post graphic content or pictures, for example, the picture of the elephant or any other animal abuse. Personally, I come across many graphic pictures which people post on their stories without realizing that their followers may be highly sensitive to them. Which brings me to my next point.

• Make sure you know who your followers are.

You may have followers who are under the age 14 and if I’m saying, as an 18 year old, I can be sensitive to information then I can only imagine how sensitive 14 year olds can get or how it may affect their mindsets even if they don’t realize it themselves. We have to take this into account if we are going to be responsible for showing them such images or sharing information. And I know, they follow other people, they will see it elsewhere anyway but you cannot be sure of that so why not just post a warning before graphic and sensitive content just in case? You also have the option of muting these followers from your stories when you post content, if you are willing to put in that much effort just for a story. The warning is the way to go in my opinion.

• Practice what you preach.   

                                                     

I’ve seen people repost hate on animal testing and using animal tested products and then blindly posting about rocking a new mascara from a cosmetic company which tests on animals. I mean? I think this point is self explanatory.  

                                                                                                                    

The above steps are to ensure and be mindful of how to take care of not triggering anybody. On the other hand, I have triggers which nobody knows of and it is unfair of me to ask anybody not to post something if it triggers me and only me. I did not know these specific things were triggers until I realized that every time I saw them, I got upset, became distant or it led to panic. Although I still have a lot to piece together in terms of my triggers, it took me a while to finally figure out some things which triggered me.

I can say now that sometimes I see posts on Instagram which are personally triggering. It brings back flashbacks of moments and it leads to unpleasant emotions. What has helped me is knowing that even though it is good to be informed of what is happening around you, you have every right to close the app or switch your phone off and distract yourself if you feel you are getting triggered. Just because you have an Instagram account or your friends are highly informed with what is happening does not mean you have an obligation which would require you to ignore your own mental health and read or see things which are potential triggers. After I realized a few things which triggered me constantly popped up on certain accounts, I even had to unfollow a few accounts. There is nothing wrong with doing this. If a certain account is triggering then you have the options of muting or unfollowing that account. Put yourself first and do what is right for you.

This topic of different things, on social media or otherwise, which can trigger different emotions or memories, whether it be minor or one which substantially affects us, is a vast area. Since every individual has different experiences and views on the subject, I have made a link for anybody who wants to share their experience of when they have been triggered and how it could have been avoided, if they wish to share. These entries will be completely anonymous so do check it out and share your own experiences.

The link : https://forms.gle/QMdSPqb4qcRY2BKq7

I realized that when it comes to my mental health and what triggers me, I'm very personal and don’t share as much and this may also be the case for a lot of other people. However, when I read about experiences which have been similar to mine, I do feel less alone, and that is my goal with the link attached above - to make people feel less alone.

In conclusion, every single person is different and unique to what triggers them. We should be mindful of what we post but also realize it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves first. These past few months and the current situation has been difficult for all of us in terms of mental health so let’s start taking small steps to make it less mentally isolating while we physically isolate :)