Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

Same reason that when they show the shooter's face all over the media and they give them tons and tons of attention, it typically spawns more copycats who are just lonely/sad/broken teens looking for the same attention.

In the show, this teen's suicide was portrayed to have had an impact on many students/families/teachers etc for a very long time after the incident. It almost glorified the suicide and the methods of leaving tapes behind.

Real suicide is not so glorious and does not leave a much of an impact as you would think, other than on the immediate family.

For example, when my mother committed suicide, my sister, grandparents and myself were impacted severely for a bit, but outside of our family circle it didn't have as much of an impact.

When I was in high school, we had a student commit suicide, which we ended up having 1 school meeting regarding it, but after about a week it had been forgotten by most and swept under the rug as everyone moved on to the next thing.

I guess I am biased based on my two experiences with suicide, however glorifying it in any way will only lead to more incidents.

When can we expect prison sentences for all those involved?

"When researchers analyzed the data by sex, they found the increase in the suicide rate was primarily driven by significant increases in suicide in young males. While suicide rates for females increased after the show’s release, the increase was not statistically significant."

I have watched the series. I wonder why males saw a significant increase in suicides if the show revolved around a female suicide. And, yes, I understand they didn't find direct causation.

There explanation at the end was refreshing.

"While compelling, this research had several limitations. For example, the study used a quasi-experimental design, meaning that the researchers cannot make a causal link between the release of “13 Reasons Why” and the observed changes in suicide rates. The researchers cannot, therefore, rule out the possibility that unmeasured events or factors influenced suicide rates during this period."

Makes sense. But how do we address it? It’s not like we can stop the media from reporting on such things. Perhaps the show could have been rated for adults only?

It seems like teens today do face challenges that weren’t faced by my generation or the ones before that. Social media, internet enabled always on devices seem to have changed the experience of being a teenager. Perhaps there are deeper issues at stake that need addressing?

The scary thing is that both this article and the example you cited are used as reasons to limit constitutional freedoms:

Limit second amendment more to prevent mass shootings.

Limit first amendment more to prevent suicides.

Really though, we should be focusing on the root cause: lonely/sad/broken people. Focus on helping/loving them and I bet suicide/mass shooting rates drop significantly.