It is easier for people thinking about suicide to find methods to top themselves on the Internet than get help. Boffins from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford and Manchester found that nearly half of Websites showing up in queries of the four top search engines gave "how to" advice on taking one's own life.
Only 13 percent, by contrast, focused on suicide prevention or offered support, while another 12 percent actively discouraged suicide.
Only 13 percent, by contrast, focused on suicide prevention or offered support, while another 12 percent actively discouraged suicide.
According to the British Medical Journal, the same set of search terms were fed into Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask. The researchers then analyzed the first ten sites from each search, giving a total of 480 hits.
Just under half of the sites provided some information about methods of suicide, while almost a fifth were for dedicated suicide sites, half of them actively encouraging, promoting, or facilitating the taking of one's life.