Suicide and Newer Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Googly

Abstract

Views about suicide and the Internet are quite polarized. Some people are very positive about the Internet’s potential as a medium for suicide prevention (“the good”). Others are adamant that the Internet can cause harm, particularly for already-vulnerable individuals who are searching for information about suicide methods (“the bad”). Our own view is that the influence of the Internet is much more nuanced than this; it is a volatile medium that presents a plethora of both positive and negative content to at-risk individuals who are often ambivalent about suicide and interpret these messages in a variety of ways (‘the Googly’1). is chapter presents the evidence for these different points of ..