But I'm going to go with the "we never needed it when I was a kid and people did just fine" for my opinion. Life isn't mean to be bubble-wrapped.
While a lot of the "trigger warning" discourse has descended down a slippery slope into nonsense, they do serve a real purpose when used as they were originally conceptualized. They aren't about bubble-wrapping life, but are a tool for providing reasonable accommodation to students with mental health related disabilities.
A nice article came out a few days ago about this that I think is worth a look:
Mason Central Authentication Service ("Not So Scary: Using and Defusing Content Warnings in the Classroom")
Tl;DR version (which is still kind of long... sorry):
Content warnings should be used as a form of disability accommodation for people with PTSD or related trauma-induced mental health issues: they are a way to
facilitate access to material, student engagement, and the discussion of difficult topics.
Ordinary language does not distinguish between desirable affective engagement with course material and paralyzing trauma responses on the other [eg panic attacks, etc] — both are often described as “being triggered.” Content warnings should aim to prevent only disabling trauma responses, not all strong emotional reactions. They should be the beginning rather than the end of a conversation.
Content warnings should be separated from broader conversations about freedom of speech and safe spaces. They are not a censorship tool nor a way to address systemic injustices, and need to be separated from that.
Anecdotally, the author has students self-report their own need for content warnings [request rate is about 10%] and provides those warnings only to students who need them as a reasonable accommodation. Most are related to graphic descriptions of rape and sexual assault and are requested by survivors of such trauma.
Warnings empower such students to make their own decisions about how they can most effectively access class material and serve the same purpose as, say, providing a note-taker for a hearing impaired student. Ultimately the goal of content warnings is to minimize the disorder's impact on a student's learning experience.