For instance, when someone describes going to school as “traumatic,” they often simply refer to it as a negative experience. This is not to say that everyone who went to school never had a traumatic experience; however, some individuals appear to overuse the term. Another example could be considering being lightly pushed into a locker as “traumatic.”
That texting while driving example is fucking excellent. Two summers ago I received a phone call out of the blue at 4 AM, my father has gone from a-okay to dying in the span of five hours and bleary-eyed and half asleep, I spoke to him for the last time in my life. My mother had called three times before I woke up - if she had texted instead and left it at that it’d be quite reasonable to me to be traumatized by missing texts.
However, driving and texting is an obvious danger, if I felt like I couldn’t miss a text for even a second it’d be perfectly reasonable for society to take away my driver’s license. If my texting trauma can interfere with my ability to safely operate a motor vehicle then it’d be unreasonable for society to allow me to drive - that shouldn’t be seen as a punishment for trauma but it is a reasonable response for public safety while I heal (if ever).
When someone is traumatized and has triggering events we should be kind and accommodate them as much as is reasonable but there is a limit to reasonableness and sometimes the reasonable response isn’t going to be desirable.
Also, in a perfect world we’d ensure folks have counseling available to work through their trauma, but most western countries gate that behind a steep private cost.
It’s taking a lot of willpower here to not go on a rant complaining about car culture and societies double standards around motor vehicles. So I’ll just leave it there.