Things You Should Remember About Being Online

The Internet has become an integral part of society and culture since the 1990s. Virtually everyone uses it on a daily basis, whether for shopping, research, casual browsing or work. When you use the Internet, there are several important precautions and rules you need to keep in mind; although the Internet is beneficial in many ways, carelessness can lead to serious problems. Above all, use common sense when you're online.

Public Accessibility

Information on the Internet is, for the most part, publicly viewable by anyone who knows the URL of the website. Anything you post on the Internet can be traced to you. This extends to forum postings, social networking sites and more. Social networking sites are an especially caution-worthy area; employers have been known to view profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook to determine the eligibility of a potential employee. Posting incriminating images, status updates or messages could cost you a job or get you in legal trouble. As a general rule of thumb, if you want something to remain private, don't post it online.

Online Communication

Online communication is a primarily text-based medium, not including video chat utilities. Because of this, many of the facial expressions, voice tones and body language don't carry through. It's difficult to determine the true meaning of a message someone sends you using the text alone. When in doubt, ask the person about their meaning before making any assumptions. Observe proper online etiquette when posting in forums and other online media: type properly, using capitalization and punctuation to make your message easier to read and to provide a good impression of yourself. Remember that regardless of the relative anonymity of online communication, there is another person on the other end of the line whose thoughts and feelings are just as valid as yours.

Responsible Browsing

Irresponsible browsing and downloading can cause your computer to pick up malware. If you download a file from an unknown source, that file may contain software that logs your keystrokes or allows a user to remotely access your computer, logging into your bank accounts and making fraudulent file transactions. Never download files from an unknown source unless you have a malware protection utility such as Norton or McAfee installed. The same goes for email attachments: don't open email attachments without virus protection, especially executable or WinZip file archives. Avoid using peer-to-peer file sharing; not only is this illegal under copyright laws, it also puts you at risk for malware.

Reliability

If you're doing research for any reason online, always confirm information you don't know with multiple reliable sources. Anyone can post information on sites such as Wikipedia or other online encyclopedias, whether or not they have the qualifications of an expert. You can use the links at the end of Wikipedia articles as a starting base for further research. Academic or government websites can usually be expected to have reliable and correct information.