Suicide Searches Increase Following Release of Netflix Show

Researchers want Netflix to pull down their hit show 13 Reasons Why.

The Netflix hit is about a teenage girl that commits suicide. It even shows a scene where the young woman performs the graphic act of self harm.

There has been constant debate about the content matter of the show. Some say it is important to raise awareness others say will encourage teenage viewers to attempt suicide.

Now researchers are encouraging Netflix to pull the show after there research showed an increase in internet search results for suicide. After the show premiered in late March search results for suicide increased 19% in just 19 days. Specifically, “how to commit suicide” searches rose 26%, “commit suicide” rose 18%, and “how to kill yourself” rose 9%, per NBC News.

One fault with this research, to me, is that it doesn’t include actual suicide numbers, just google search results. It seems that the show is increasing awareness but not having an effect on numbers of teenagers attempting suicide.