The Netflix series 13 Reasons Why has been controversial from the start: It deals frankly with a teenage girl's suicide, including a tough-to-watch 3-minute scene of the suicide itself. Debate has been split between one camp saying it serves an important function by raising awareness and another arguing that it could encourage copycats. Now, a study published Monday in the Journal of American Medicine has its authors clearly taking sides: They want Netflix to pull the show. The details:
- The searches: The study found that online searches about suicide increased in the three weeks after the show premiered on March 31. Such queries were up 19% over a 19-day span, “reflecting 900,000 to 1.5 million more searches than expected,” per the researchers.
- Ideation: Some of the increased searches were related to prevention, with "suicide hotline number" up 21%, for example. But researchers were vexed by the increase in searches related to what they term suicidal ideation; specifically, "how to commit suicide" searches rose 26%, "commit suicide" rose 18%, and "how to kill yourself" rose 9%, per NBC News.
- Tough talk: "Our worst fears were confirmed," says lead author John Ayers of San Diego State University, per CNN. "That is, thousands of people, thousands more, are searching online about ways to kill themselves." He called for Netflix to pull the show and stop filming on season 2.
- Netflix response: "We always believed this show would increase discussion around this tough subject matter. This is an interesting quasi experimental study that confirms this. We are looking forward to more research and taking everything we learn to heart as we prepare for season 2." In April, one of the show's writers defended the premise and the frank treatment in Vanity Fair.