What You Can Do Online

Last updated on 11 Mar 2013

The internet can be used to keep in touch with people, for entertainment, shopping and for fun.

Shopping online

Shopping online is one of the most popular uses of the Internet. You can buy almost anything online, without having to leave your own home and you don't have to carry your purchases home. Goods are often cheaper when you buy online, although you may have to pay a delivery charge. You can buy food, clothes, holidays, music and insurance online and much, much more.

All of the major retailers and supermarkets have online shopping websites. Lots of small businesses also use the Internet to serve specialist markets. Auction websites, such asebay www.ebay.co.uk, sell new and second-hand items.

All reputable online retailers will have security measures to protect you from any risk of fraud, but you should look at the Get Safe Online website for advice about buying or selling online.

The following websites may also be of interest to you:

• www.freecycle.org - A network of groups of people who recycle by giving away unwanted items.
• www.pricerunner.co.uk - A price comparison website, to help you to find the best deals when buying online.
• www.thetrainline.com - A website where you can often find discounted train tickets.
• www.moneysavingexpert.com Martin's Money Saving Expert - A website where you can find advice on online shopping, including hints and tips on how to get the best deals.

Music online

Personal music players, such as the iPod, are very popular. People who use them can buy the music via the Internet as ‘music downloads’. You can download every sort of music from the Internet.

You don't have to have a personal music player to listen to music that you get from the Internet. Many computers have loudspeakers built in and you can buy speakers to plug into those that don’t.

You can also listen to the radio via the Internet.

These following websites may be of interest to you;

• BBC iPlayer website www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer - Where you can listen to all of the BBC radio channels live and also listen to programmes that you have missed
• Spotify website www.spotify.com - where you can register for free to listen to music on demand
• Last FM website www.last.fm - A free online radio stationwhere you can listen to music that you choose

News online

The Internet is ideal for keeping up to date with the news. You can check the latest news at any time, without having to wait for the daily newspaper or the scheduled bulletins on television and radio. You can get news from anywhere in the world, and you can compare how different sources report the same news item.

The following are some of the websites that you can get news from:

• BBC News www.bbc.co.uk - International, national and local news from the BBC
• Paperboy www.thepaperboy.com - Find the websites of local newspapers, or those of other countries

Each of the national newspapers also has their own website. These are listed below:

• Daily and Sunday Express www.express.co.uk
• Daily Mail www.dailymail.co.uk
• The Guardian www.guardian.co.uk
• The Independent www.independent.co.uk
• Mirror www.mirror.co.uk
• The Observer www.observer.guardian.co.uk
• The Sun www.thesun.co.uk
• The Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk
• The Times www.timesonline.co.uk

Blogs

Blog is short for ‘web log’. It is like an online diary. You can choose to keep it private, share it with friends, or publish it to the whole world. The tools for creating a blog are free and are an easy way to produce your own website.

Several people can contribute to a blog, which means that blogs are useful for groups of people to exchange views or keep in touch with each other. A blog can also contain photographs, video clips or music.

There are many websites that you can use to create your own blog, one of which is Google Blogger www.blogger.com or Wordpress www.wordpress.com.

Other Useful Information

• Age UK's guide Making the most of the internet
• Mobile Phones article on Information Now