Over the same period, there was a reduction of 245 suicides or 5.5% below the expected number. Using Twitter posts to estimate audience attention over one month, they found that, in the 34 day period immediately after the three events with the strongest public attention (the song's release, the MTV Video Music Awards 2017, and Grammy Awards 2018), there were an extra 9,915 calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, an increase of 6.9% over the expected number. To assess whether the song's positive message was linked to a change in behavior, researchers led by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler at the Medical University of Vienna examined the associations between Logic's song and daily calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number as well as daily suicides in the US. The song reached number three in the US Billboard charts, and was performed at the 2017 MTV Music Awards and the 2018 Grammy Awards, generating intense public attention. The song describes someone in suicidal crisis who calls the number for help, which marks a turning point towards improvement and mastery of their crisis. One exception was in April 2017, when the American hip hop artist Logic released his song "1-80," prominently featuring the number of the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
There is clear evidence that media reports of suicide can trigger further suicides, but less is known about the protective effects of reports of hope and recovery, mainly because they receive much less media coverage than stories of suicide death. The findings demonstrate the protective effect of positive media stories about suicidal thoughts and help seeking behavior, particularly for groups that are hard to reach with traditional messaging, say the researchers.
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