What are some e-mail safety tips?

Like many other aspects of the Internet, e-mail can pose some risks to children and teens. Keep these safety tips in mind and teach them to your children.

• Help your children to create an e-mail address that does not contain any personal information, including their name, address, age, or location. Also, be sure the e-mail address does not contain any sexual connotations.
  • Not responding to e-mails from anyone they don’t know
  • Not opening files attached to e-mails that were sent from someone they don’t recognize
  • Deleting all e-mails from unknown senders
  • Being careful about what they write in e-mails – you can never take it back
• Only allow them to give out their e-mail address to close family and real-life friends that they trust. Teach them to never post their e-mail address anywhere online.
• Monitor who is communicating with them and talk to them about not e-mailing with people they first meet online.
• Research e-mail providers to find out if they have privacy settings and blocking mechanisms for spam and other unsolicited messages. Use the provider that you feel most comfortable with.
• Tell your children NOT to fill out the profiles that are available when you sign up with some e-mail providers.
• Have them create a strong password and only share it with you.
• Talk to them about
• Use e-mail to communicate with your children; it may be an effective way to check in and keep the lines of communication open.