EMAIL

Using email is a fun way of speaking to friends and family and it’s also used a lot by people at work.

You can send emails to lots of people at the same time and you can also send an email to anyone in the world – as long as you know who they are! Lots of people who use email a lot use a special ‘lingo’ to talk to their friends. For the most up to date lingo, check out our lingo page! When you send emails, you can also send pictures and videos for your friends to see, and this can be a great way of sharing information.

Sometimes you get emails from people you don’t know.

In the Cyber Café or Internet Cafe, you could receive an email from someone you don’t know, you can do the right thing by deleting the email and not replying to the person who sent it. These emails are usually junk emails and this is called ‘Spam’. Some people also send viruses and nasty pictures by using email.

It’s important to remember that if you receive an email from someone you don’t know, NEVER OPEN IT. Tell an adult you trust if you’re not sure what to do.

Some people also send fake emails to trick you into replying. They get email addresses by using special software or from other websites on the internet. If you reply to one of these emails, the people sending them will know that your email address is real, and they could start sending you junk or nasty emails.

Make sure you ALWAYS DELETE EMAILS FROM PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW.
It’s also NOT A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE A PICTURE OF YOURSELF on your profile – you can use one of the pictures that are on IM already, or a picture of a pet or your favourite pop group. This is because if you have someone on your contact list who you don’t know in the real world, they will be able to have access to your profile and see what you look like.

Emails can also get lost on the internet after they have been sent, so make sure you don’t include lots of information about yourself that may allow people to know where you are.

NEVER GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION, like your full name, address or school to people you talk to using email, if you don’t know them in the real world. If anyone you talk to online asks for this information, tell a trusted adult.
Some people use emails to send pictures of themselves to friends and family, but IT’S NOT A GOOD IDEA TO SEND A PICTURE TO SOMEONE YOU HAVE MET ONLINE who you don’t know in the real world. They may not be who they say they are, and you don’t want a stranger to have a picture of you or your friends/ family.

Finally, the most important thing to remember when you are using emails is…

TREAT PEOPLE HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED YOURSELF. Take responsibility for what you write when using email and never write something that might hurt or upset someone.