'13 Reasons Why' Linked to Increased Suicide Online Searches
"13 Reasons Why" grabbed the world's attention when it was aired on one of the most popular streaming sites, Netflix. It portrayed scenarios, topics, and issues which were not easy to put on a script and film. It was acclaimed for its efforts but a new study has revealed that "13 Reasons Why" is linked to an uptick of suicide searches made online.
The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine and it sought to understand how online searches of suicide changed after Netflix's "13 Reasons Why" aired. The results revealed that the searches were 19% higher a few days after the show premiered on the streaming site, which means that there was an increase in searches of 900,000 to 1.5 million.
"For some viewers, the series glamorizes the victim and the suicide act in a way that promotes suicide, while other viewers hope the series raises suicide awareness," wrote lead researcher John Ayers, as reported by Vulture. The evidence of such a claim lies in the fact that while there was a spike in the search of how to go about the act, there were also increased searchers for suicide prevention.
Given the existing link of suicide-related searches and actual suicide attempts, the researchers had fair reason to believe that "13 Reasons Why" may have caused some real-world incidents. This is an alarming finding regardless of how it potentially raised awareness about suicide and prevention techniques that can be used in everyday life.
Considering the results of the study, the researchers wrote that in the future, the showrunners behind "13 Reasons Why" are urged to follow the World Health Organization guidelines and to air each episode with the suicide hotline embedded either in the beginning of the episode or in the credits. Netflix has yet to release an official statement but fans are expecting them to continue threading lightly in difficult waters.
