Broadband Saves Lives: The Impact of Broadband on Youth Suicide Death Rates

Youth suicide and broadband internet have risen together since the early 2000s, yet whether broadband worsens or relieves youth mental health remains unsettled. I estimate the causal effect of broadband adoption on suicide death rates among youths aged 15 to 24 across U.S. states from 2006 to 2023. Because broadband is not randomly assigned, I instrument state broadband connections (mobile and fixed) per capita with two features that shaped early telephone diffusion and persist in today’s network geography: the population-weighted county distance to a major river or coastline, and county railroad length in 1870. Two-stage least squares estimates show a significant negative effect: a one-standard-deviation increase in broadband connections per capita (0.06) lowers the crude suicide death rate by 4.97 per 100,000 youths, about one-third of the 2023 mean, significant at the 1% level. The result is consistent with broadband expanding access to mental health information and care, and suggests that closing the rural digital divide may carry meaningful public health benefits.