'13 Reasons Why' Was Associated With A 29% Increase In Youth Suicide Rates, It Needs To Be Removed From Netflix Immediately
This is not a coincidence.
It's no secret that I think last year's Netflix adaptation of "13 Reasons Why" was absolute garbage. From its problematic depictions of mental health and mental health professionals to its graphic and exploitative scene in which Hannah Baker dies by suicide, the show did much more harm than good, proven by both anecdotal evidence as well as research revealing that suicide hotlines saw a dramatic increase in calls citing the scene as an immediate trigger and Internet searches for ways to die by suicide increased 26% following the show's release. And recent research has delivered even more troubling evidence that the extent to which the show put young people at risk is much more tangible than what the producers will have us believe.
After accounting for ongoing trends in suicide rates, the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that the show was associated with a 28.9% increase in suicide rates among U.S. youth ages 10-17 in the month (April 2017) following the show's release. The number of deaths by suicide recorded in this month was greater than the number seen in any single month during the five-year period examined by the researchers.
This is not a coincidence.
Findings like this demand those in the entertainment industry to take a long, hard look at how we portray suicide in the media. Experts have had the answer for a while now — graphic depictions of suicide are dangerous and pose a serious risk to all those watching, especially young people, the primary consumers of "13 Reasons Why." Those that ignore these recommendations should be reprimanded and the blatantly dangerous content that they produce should be removed immediately. "13 Reasons Why" should be removed immediately. Before another young person joins that 29% statistic and loses their life.
I've said it before and I'll say it again — we owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to all of the possible Hannah Bakers out there to do better.
