Over the past few years, a disappointing term has entered Gen Z’s public lexicon: “trauma dumping,” — the act of oversharing extremely personal and traumatic experiences with others. We need to stop using this term because it pushes Gen Z toward emotional immaturity, treats emotional vulnerability as pathological and further promotes the breakdown of close and intimate relationships.
This piece is not meant to denigrate the people who loosely use it. We’re all prone to absorbing the language of the people around us. This piece is just meant to stress a simple reality: throughout all of human history, basic communication has consisted of sharing your hardships with each other.
It hasn’t been until recently that the term “trauma dumping” has widely been used on TikTok and other platforms frequented by Gen Z. If you share that your cousin died, you’re “trauma dumping.” If you’re talking to a friend about your recent mental health struggles, you’re “trauma dumping.” If you acknowledge any bad past relationship experience, you’re “trauma dumping.”
Emotional vulnerability is a necessity of all close relationships. Without vulnerability, can you really refer to it as a genuine friendship or relationship? Without emotional intimacy, you’re stripping relationships down to a very superficial level.
Of course, there is an argument to be made that the person who is offended by “trauma dumping” has a lack of empathy.
This points to a deeper issue in our society. We do not reward empathy. Empathy is seen as a weakness. People are encouraged to dominate over others. People are called “sensitive” and “soft” as if it’s an insult.
The person who is offended by their friend “trauma dumping” should be the one reflecting if they are actually willing to have close relationships with other people, and not just emotionally hollow acquaintanceships.
This isn’t to deny that trauma dumping exists in its strictest sense. Trauma dumping was coined to acknowledge that at times, a relationship can lose its reciprocity, and can lead to abuse down the road. I fundamentally agree with that.
However, online, I’ve seen the term used so carelessly that it has been stripped of its original meaning — one tied to abusive relationships, a very serious issue.
More maliciously, the term can be weaponized by people who don’t have much empathy to begin with. This risks giving such people a pass because they’re hurt by “trauma dumping.”
If we want to promote a more empathetic culture, trauma dumping should be relegated to the other slang of the 2020s like “skibidi” and “adulting.”
The opinions desk can be reached at opinions@ubspectrum.com
