Getting Your First e-mail address

Nowadays people who havent signed up for an e-mail address are rare finds indeed. Even you grandparents probably have one, even if they havent yet grasped the concept of a username and password. And if youre the one who set up their accounts, theres absolutely no reason for you to not create one for yourself.

An e-mail address functions like a virtual mailbox, with advantages that real-world mailboxes lack. For one thing, delivery is instantaneous and practically limitless in destination. E-mail can keep you in contact with friends who live a continent away. Its also free of charge, and accessible to almost anyone.

Of course, e-mail is not without shortcomings. It does tend to be less personal than good old-fashioned mailed letters, phone conversations and actual human contact. Unfortunately, tone doesnt travel as well through written text as it is conveyed through spoken voice, but this can easily be remedied using a plethora of various smiley emoticons. Your e-mail address is also susceptible to plagues of random advertisements, chain letters, and unsolicited sexual propositions. Fortunately, these epidemics have died down in more recent times. You wont have problems with this when you use more reputable e-mail domains such as Gmail and Yahoo.

You may also find the more distant and impersonal nature of the e-mail address to be of benefit in some cases. In order to avoid personal contact with an undesirable acquaintance, the e-mail address can be distributed in place of a phone number when a form of correspondence is requested. It is also possible to own several e-mail addresses for dealing with different areas of your life and different people. As this is much more difficult to manage with a phone number or home address, the e-mail address comes in handy.

Feel free to be original when choosing a username. Using your full name tends to be popular among first-timers though surprisingly enough, you can often find that your name is already taken by another user. Youre more likely to successfully create an account using a name that is idiosyncratic and unique. When choosing a password, the same applies to a greater extent. Some may think that password is a clever choice, but be assured that a billion others have thought that they were being just as clever. Passwords that have no meaning are the strongest because they are hard to guess. Just take care to remember it yourself, since it probably wont have any inherent meaning to you either.

Once youve registered your unique e-mail address youll be ready to correspond online to virtually anybody, just like everyone else. Welcome to the world of virtual communication.