You can use it to do research for school, find out what movie is playing near you (and whether people like it), check out a college you're thinking about, or find a job or volunteer opportunity. Almost anything you can think of has a website (or a thousand of them) about it. And it's not just websites — blogs, videos, and downloadable games await to connect you with other user and players.

The key is to protect yourself while online.

Smart Surfing First rule of smart surfing? Remain as anonymous as possible. That means keeping all private information private. Here are some examples of private information that you should never give out on the Internet:

full name

home address

phone number

Social Security number

passwords

names of family members

credit card numbers

http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/internet_safety.html