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Being able to send messages and talk to other people is an important part of modern life.

The internet has opened up lots of new ways for us to communicate.

At the touch of a button, we can instantly get in touch with almost anyone, anywhere on the planet.

There are lots of ways digital technology can help us stay in touch. We call this digital communication.

Remember, it's important to use technology to only talk to friends, family and people you know and trust.

Email is a digital version of sending letters. Emails travel almost instantly.

You can send these text-based messages to anyone with an email account and add images, documents, videos or website links.

This is a good form of communication if you want to send projects or homework to your friends or teacher.

Instant messaging is a way to send a short text, photo or image-based message to other people.

They can reply in real-time. Many people use instant messaging on their smartphones. Some messaging systems delete messages as soon as they have been read.

This is a good way of communicating quickly with your friends and family.

Video calling allows us to talk to someone and see and hear their reactions in real-time.

Video calls can be one-to-one or a video conference with lots of people.

You can also share your screen or a document you are working on.

This is a good form of communication if you want to see and hear people in different locations.

Online forms and surveys can be used to communicate information easily, by collecting responses in a digital format.

This can make it easier to analyse lots of data.

This is a good form of communication if you want to collect information accurately and clearly.

If you read or play something online, you might be able to add comments or give feedback.

If it is an article or report you might even be able to ask questions to get more information.

It's important to be respectful in the comments you post, so you don't upset someone.

This is a good form of communication if you want to express an opinion about something online.

Many people shop online and don't always get to see something before they buy it.

Instead, people rely on reading reviews and feedback, written by other people who have already bought it.

It's important to be honest in an online review, as people might use your opinion to help them decide whether to buy something.

This is a good form of communication to let people know if you thought a product was good or bad.

Have you ever used any of these forms of communication?

When you send an email, you type in the email address of the person you are sending it to.

Email addresses are always made up of two parts:

• the username
• the domain name

The username tells the email provider which inbox to put the email into. It might be a person's name, nickname or memorable word.

The domain name is the bit after the @ symbol. This is the address where the email address can be found.

Businesses and schools often have their own special domain name - @bbc.co.uk, for example.

Just like in real life it's important to be polite and respectful when you are sending an email.

It's important to always remember to be kind when using any form of digital communication.

It's easy to forget that the people you meet online are real people with feelings. Something you may intend to be a joke, could be hurtful.

Try to be as inclusive as you can when you use digital communications and remember to always ask permission before sharing pictures or videos of someone.

If someone sends you something that upsets you, be sure to tell a trusted adult and where possible, show them what has upset you.

Remember anything you send over the internet can be recovered, so don't send something that you might later regret.