The Google Trends Suicide Watch

from the well,-that's-depressing dept

Tue, Jul 14th 2009 4:17am — Mike Masnick

Jeremy Wagstaff has done a fascinating (if morbid) little analysis using Google Trends to track the popularity of the search phrase "commit suicide painlessly." Perhaps not too surprisingly, it appears to track the economy. That is, it was relatively flat for a while, but spiked in October 2008 through March 2009 -- though, it's since come back down. As he notes, this isn't exactly a small blip -- it was over an extended period of time. He digs down a bit in the data, which suggests that while the US is a lot less suicidal these days, things are still a bit on edge over in the UK (you guys doing ok?). What would be interesting now would be to correlate that data with actual suicides. Oddly, Wagstaff notes that a similar boost is not seen in just the basic search of "how to commit suicide." That makes me wonder if the "commit suicide painlessly" search is suffering from a small sample size problem. Still, it's yet another fun little "economic indicator" found from public data, similar to the post we had recently on analyzing job trends via Facebook status. While the data might not mean much yet, the fact that there is so much more data so easily accessible is really powerful.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: suicide, trends
Companies: google trends

20 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Some person, 14 Jul 2009 @ 5:21am

A bit obvious
Oddly, Wagstaff notes that a similar boost is not seen in just the basic search of "how to commit suicide."

There isn't really much hope for somebody who doesn't know how to do himself in. How hard could it possibly be? People aren't searching for that for the same reason people don't ask questions like, "If I shoot myself in the head twelve times, will I be okay?"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Chunky Vomit, 14 Jul 2009 @ 6:03am
  
  Re: A bit obvious
  As somebody who spends way more time in the medical field than I'd like to admit: It is much harder than most people think.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mike, 14 Jul 2009 @ 5:39am

Great
I think you just outlined the next Google lawsuit. Google is performing assisted suicides.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
cryptozoologist (profile), 14 Jul 2009 @ 5:58am

correlation vs causality
of course simply publishing this article will lead to an increase in google searches of "commit suicide painlessly" leading to a senseless increase in the suicide rate ;-)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 4:06pm
  
  Re: correlation vs causality
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2010 @ 5:24pm
  
  Re: correlation vs causality
  ha
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bryan Rosander (profile), 14 Jul 2009 @ 6:09am

XKCD
This is just for laughs right? XKCD has a ton of comics based on odd trends in Google searches.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Enrico Suarve, 14 Jul 2009 @ 6:10am

Different search
If he is going to draw attention to the subject he could at least use a search like "Commit suicide without leaving a mess". My mate's an ambulance driver and he'd appreciate those checking out to do so cleanly or at least in a manner that he's not going to still remember graphically after the 10th drink

Those about to die we salute you - unless you're about to jump in front of a train in which case fuck you, you thoughtless bastards ;0)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Michael Witt (profile), 14 Jul 2009 @ 6:13am

Suicide is Painless
Am I the only one reminded of the song "Suicide is Painless"? It's the theme song for M*A*S*H.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
NullOp, 14 Jul 2009 @ 6:39am

Trending...
Very interesting and creative use of Google Trends. I'm not surprised people are looking for a painless suicide. If they are at the point of seriously considering suicide they've had enough pain already. Suicide is not the answer, btw.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Dark Helmet (profile), 14 Jul 2009 @ 6:54am
  
  Re: Trending...
  "Suicide is not the answer, btw."
  
  Depends on the question. For instance, if the question is "What is a better fate than watching prime time programming on the Lifetime Network?", I think suicide is a very apt answer.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - chris (profile), 14 Jul 2009 @ 6:57am
    
    Re: Re: Trending...
    Depends on the question.
    
    suicide is not the answer. suicide is the question. yes is the answer.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - rent a car, 20 Nov 2010 @ 3:13am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Trending...
      Yes, of course...
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bradley Stewart, 14 Jul 2009 @ 7:01am

Interesting Study But
I believe domestic voilence and homicide will more closly track economic trends. Lets face it even the most depressed people get a little queasy about doing themselves in. I believe its much more likley that they attempt to do in the party or party's responsible either real or perceived first before they think about finishing themselves off.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
interval, 14 Jul 2009 @ 8:42am

Its an interesting blip in a statistical measure, that's all. No big deal. People were committing suicide long before Google came along.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Paranoid Android, 14 Jul 2009 @ 9:59pm

Perminent Solution to Temporary Problem
I have a pain in the diodes in my left side.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Simon, 15 Jul 2009 @ 2:38am

There has been a bit of coverage in the UK about people going to a Swiss clinic in order to commit assisted suicide. See for example this story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/after-54-years-together-they-decided-to-die-together- 1746472.html which was on the front page of one of the 'quality' national papers yesterday.

That *might* help account for the rise in interest in the UK.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
inchirierimasini (profile), 22 Sep 2009 @ 7:39am

Very interesting, I think this is a pretty important improvement.
Rent a car
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
grow taller, 28 Aug 2010 @ 6:04am

Nice
driver and he'd appreciate those checking out to do so cleanly or at least in a manner that he's not going to still remember graphically after the 10th drink
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jennifer, 10 Dec 2010 @ 10:29am

Wow didn't hear of that till now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]