13 Reasons Not to Watch 13 Reasons (particularly teens)

1. Suicide should not be viewed as entertaining. The Netflix series, 13 Reasons, sensationalizes suicide and the entire premise of the show centers around Hannah’s suicide and the events leading up to it.
2. No alternatives are given for coping with stress. Hannah’s suicide almost seems justified by the writers because of the intense pain she endured at the hands of others.
3. There is definitely an eye-for-an-eye mentality. You hurt me therefore I am going to hurt you by ending my life. This is not a message we want to communicate to teenagers. There are better ways to resolve conflict than revenge, especially when revenge is deadly.
4. While the show makes you think about how you treat others, it does not communicate any skills for how to deal with people who bully you. For Hannah, she escaped being bullied by taking her life, and the audience is encouraged to see this as a valid reason for her untimely death.
5. The show leaves nothing to the imagination. The rape scenes and suicide scene are incredibly graphic and not a healthy visual to embed in your memory.
6. We are to meditate on what is pure, noble, admirable and praiseworthy — this series is anything but.
7. There have been reports of students having nightmares surrounding suicide as a result of the graphic portrayal of suicide in this series.
8. Hannah gave warning signs of her impending suicide, but no one noticed. There is no PSA of warning signs to look for suicidal ideation. There was also no guidance as to what to do if you suspect someone is going to hurt themselves. This may lead to copy-cat suicides. We need to be aware of the signs in order to save lives.
9. When a person loses someone they care about to suicide, he often experience feelings of guilt and shame. Hannah, the main character, wanted those left behind to feel guilt and shame. This could leave real world survivors believing that they truly are to blame for their loved one’s death leading to more trauma — or worse — more suicides.
10. People with mental illness are at higher risk for suicide than the general public; there is no mention of mental illness in the series, yet many who watch it struggle with depression, anxiety, or other forms of mental illness.
11. It does not promote resources available to people considering suicide such as the Georgia Crisis and Access Line 1-800-715-4225
12. Hannah is portrayed as heroic for “standing up to her tormentors” while in reality, suicide is NEVER heroic.
13. While suicide is a sad reality, we need to focus on prevention and not methods. The show demonstrates Hannah’s journey toward suicide and even includes her plotting her plan of action. This is not the message we need to communicate. We need to be sharing live-giving principles and not ones that lead to death.

Please think carefully before allowing your child/teen to watch this series. If you choose to do so, consider watching it with them to help them process the themes and the violence that are portrayed. As a survivor of suicide, I must proclaim — “There is nothing glamorous about death by suicide! There is help out there. No matter what you are experiencing, there are people who can help.”