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Social media can be a negative force; how do you use it as a vehicle for positivity and stay away from its toxicity?

A lot of [social media] has been a tough path because when I first started, I could not believe the things that people would say. It would upset me, I would sometimes get tears in my eyes. I will rarely respond, but when I do, I realize that the people who are writing these things are really hurting themselves. I tell my children, "You never teach with negativity, but with kindness." If I want to be negative [to these trolls], which I rarely do, it's only making things worse. It's just going to fuel the fire. By being kind and standing up for yourself, for instance saying, "It makes me worried that you're speaking like this because if you're saying this to me, who else are you saying this to?" This is something these people clearly do frequently in their lives. I try to use strong, positive words with them. I have actually created relationships with [some of the] people who I have had this kind of interaction with, and they realize what they're doing is negative and try to change that, which is kind of amazing. If you want positivity, you have to put it out there, and don't always expect to get it back. Don't give [positivity] because you expect something, give because you want to be that kind of person.

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