So I was hearing a lot of buzz about 13 Reasons Why and decided to give it a go. I couldn’t make it past the 3rd episode, so as a story I can’t really tell you what the other 10 episodes are about, but I can tell you this: Don’t watch it and don’t let your teens watch it.

Here is the simple plain explanation reason: Suicide is contagious. Yes, you are reading that correctly. It has been scientifically & statistically studied, and demonstrated that suicides often occur in clusters, largely due to other suicides being reported.

One of my favorite books of all time is Robert Cialdini’s “Persuasion, The Psychology of Persuasion” and in it he talks about how researchers discovered there were increases in suicides, were other suicides had occurred based on news publications. It is sometimes referred to as Copycat Suicide. Even journalists have certain rules about using the word suicide in headlines and the like. I realize this probably sounds bat poop crazy, but take a read of Cialdini’s book and you will probably be convinced otherwise, as I was. (I didnt believe it at first)

In the end, I am ok with the blood and guts of certain movies like Aliens for example because it is make-believe & entertainment, but teenage suicide is a real thing, and it can actually trigger those who may be considering it already.

From what I have seen of 13 Reasons, it almost glamorizes suicide. Just not worth it to me for the sake of entertainment.