People have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this SMS disclaimer

"Are you in the right headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you?"

Twitter

Social media users are discussing how to have hurtful conversations with friends. Source: Twitter

When it comes to having difficult conversations with loved ones, there's often no right way to start a conversation - particularly when your friend or family member struggles with their mental health.

However, one social media user's text message solution has sparked a huge conversation about permission, trigger warnings and responsibility.

"I just want to say, a lot of y’all dump information on your friends at the wrong time without their consent," Twitter user Yana.

"If you know it’s something that could hurt them, ask permission before you decide to be messy. Please."

Yana then shared an example of how to broach these potentially hurtful conversations - a screenshot of a text message which read: "Are you in the right headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you?"

However, not everyone was buying it, with many claiming the message unfairly puts responsibility on the second party.
"I get the thought, but on the occasion that I'm actually not in the right state to receive possibly hurtful news, this kind of disclaimer or heads up won't help at all," one Twitter user wrote in response.

"It's just gonna fuel my anxiety lol."

Another observed that most people with anxiety would struggle to say "no" if posed the question, even if they weren't emotionally equipped to deal with the potentially sensitive subject matter.

"It'll cause anxiety to begin with, and then if they're NOT in a good headspace, giving them this sort of cryptic sh*t is only going to stress them out until they accept."

They added: "It's manipulative and puts the onus on them instead of you."

Others soon began offering helpful alternatives, with one follower suggesting a better question to use might be "Are you in the right headspace to talk about a heavy or sensitive topic?"

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Published 4 December 2019 3:36pm
Updated 4 December 2019 3:48pm
By Samuel Leighton-Dore


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