‘Trigger Warnings’ Don’t Deter People From Clicking Through: Study

Research suggests that content warnings on social media may increase curiosity rather than discourage viewing.

A 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone in New South Wales, Australia, on Oct. 24, 2025. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images

Australian researchers found that most young people exposed to online trigger warnings—brief notices alerting users to potentially distressing material—choose to ignore them.

The study, published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, followed 261 participants aged 17-25 over a week, asking them to record encounters with trigger warnings, whether they chose to engage with or avoid the content, and their reasons for doing so.