“5 Things We Can Each Do To Make Social Media And The Internet A Kinder And More Tolerant Place” With Natalie Pennington Ph.D

Don’t feed the trolls. When you respond and engage with every mean or potentially mean comment about you online, it gives license and opportunity for those behaviors to repeat. Don’t feed the trolls and don’t read the comments.

As a part of my interview series about the things we can each do to make social media and the internet a kinder and more tolerant place, I had the pleasure to interview Natalie Pennington. Natalie is an expert in interpersonal communication within the context of communication technology. An assistant professor of communication studies at UNLV, she examines how private topics become public on social networking platforms and the resulting impact on relationships. Her research looks at how users of social media build and maintain relationships, the potential benefits and harms associated with technology use, and social support and grieving online.

Thank you so much for doing this with us Natalie! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?