Recently, a new show has become incredibly popular on Netflix. The show is called "13 Reasons Why" and it is based on an incredible book. The storyline follows a boy who had a friend, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide, and she left behind 13 tapes including reasons why suicide was her choice. In the show, sexual assault, loneliness and isolation, and bullying all play a role in Hannah Bakers choice to commit suicide.

As a result of the show, many memes on twitter and other social media have been popping up; memes and tweets about the actors and how pretty they are, how different the book is from the show, and, more prevalently, things mocking the reasons behind Hannah’s Suicide.

Many of these opinions have surfaced mocking Hannah’s ‘oversensitivity’ or ‘irrational’ reasons for killing herself such as follows:

Although many find these funny or amusing since it mocks the dialogue used in the television show, the reality of this abuse of social media is that it totally undermines the message intended. Taking a step back, the tweets are actually incredibly insensitive.

The show was co-produced by more than fourteen people including Selena Gomez, and they even put out an additional episode called “Behind the Reasons” aimed at depicting their message about teen suicide even further. This additional episode included the producers and the actors talking about the show and the impacts its had and how it is aimed to affect society today.

This show was made to 1. bring life to a very popular book and 2. portray very important messages about teen suicide. The show itself is bold, as it includes many graphic scenes depicting sexual assault and even Hannah Bakers suicide (VERY graphic). To all, the topic of suicide in teens is incredibly hard to swallow. It is scary, difficult to understand and even harder to simply acknowledge. "13 Reasons Why" was created for that exact reason: to bring the topic of teen suicide into the conversation of the public sphere. The intention of the show isn't to make it more normal, acceptable or pretty to think about. The intention is to bring awareness and to remind people how little you know about the battles that other people fight every single day.

By trying to associate Hannah's problems with depression, bullying, isolation, assault, or anything she was feeling with simple things like food (in the tweets above) you completely invalidate the message of the show. It totally invalidates how someone you don't even know could be feeling, and its wrong. We are promoting popularity at other peoples expense and it should not be stood for, let alone promoted or publicized. It is disappointing and insulting that so many people find it easier to mock the message of the show rather than to try to understand it.

The topic of teen suicide is hard to comprehend. It isn’t nice and it makes everyone uncomfortable to talk about. This doesn't mean we can ignore it. It doesn't mean that mocking it will make it go away, and it doesn't mean that you can pretend none of it affects you.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 10-24-year-olds.

Every single day there is an average of over 5,240 suicide attempts by kids grades 7-12.

This affects everyone, and it shouldn't be ignored.

Calling Hannah ‘overly sensitive’ or ‘dramatic’ totally undermines the reality of the situation:

Yes, other people can have an affect on the way you view yourself. And yes, you should be more mindful of how you treat others.

People do not like the concept that they can have such an impact on other peoples lives. By mocking the show and calling Hannah unreasonable, we diffuse the responsibility we have to one another. Yes, there are other causes of teen depression besides bullying and sexual assault. Not everyone who commits suicide does it for the same reasons. We cant even begin to understand how those people were feeling, but to put it on blast on social media like that is not only totally irresponsible but incredibly disrespectful and invalidates the experience.

The show may have really spoken out to someone. It may have been incredibly relatable to people that you don't know. There could be people on your news feed struggling with things similar to the struggles of Hannah Baker, and by mocking these, you invalidate their experience.

Yes, I realize this is an unpopular opinion I am taking. I realize I am subject to, also, be called overly sensitive and unnecessarily dramatic about a TV show and some tweets people created to become twitter famous.

To that I say: I am aware. I am conscious of the way my words may affect others. I am paying attention to the feelings and needs that people wish to ignore by sweeping the conversation of teen suicide under the cover of a funny, viral tweet. I am not saying these people intend to hurt others by creating these tweets, I am simply saying they aren’t considering the feelings of people who read them. By publicly mocking the show and all it stands for, you completely undermine the efforts made by the producers, actors, and everyone involved to provide a lifeline for those suffering or considering suicide.

You have NO IDEA how your tweet regarding someones "oversensitivity" can affect another person because you may never feel the way they feel.

Although its easier as a society to be funny, mock things we don’t want to take seriously or even ignore things we don't like, that doesn't mean we should. Social media is incredibly powerful, and rather than accepting the responsibility of helping others, be it through Netflix or whatever, we are popularizing the opinion that its okay to mock suicide. We are making it not only socially acceptable to ignore the feelings of others, but were making them a joke.

It’s truly disappointing that in a world so connected by social media we can be so totally disconnected from one another and completely unaware of the way we affect others.

"13 Reasons Why" was an awesome show, totally worthy of binge watching but definitely not worthy of your insensitivity.

Keep others in mind when you post, and try to be the friend someone else needs, not the funniest or most popular person online.