CIEE Policies - Internet Use

The Internet can be a wonderful tool for gathering information, for entertainment, and most importantly, for staying in touch with family and friends. However, it is important to remember that the use of the Internet at home or at school is a privilege and not a right. Abuse of this privilege can create many problems both for you and for your host family.

To help you to avoid these problems, we would like to provide some guidelines to you that we want all Council participants to follow.

Limit your use of the Internet. We strongly recommend that you do not exceed three 20-minute sessions each week.

When you use the Internet for long periods of time you tie up the phone line so that no one else in the host family can make or receive calls. Depending on the type of Internet account that your family has, you may be running up a very expensive bill.

The more time that you spend on the Internet chatting to friends and family from home, the less time you are spend on homework or on socializing with family and friends here. You came to the US to experience American culture. You cannot do this successfully if you are spending too much time focused on home.

If you are homesick, spending a lot of time sending and receiving emails from your home will actually prolong the amount of time that you feel this way.

Be very careful to observe Internet protocol. Internet protocol includes not using obscene language in chat rooms.

Avoid sites that say "Caution: must be 18 or over". These sites include anything related to weapons, violence, or pornography.

Even if you are 18, viewing of these sites may make your host family very uncomfortable, not to mention being offensive to their beliefs.

Remember- you are an ambassador for your country while you are here, and your actions will influence how people view you and your country.

If you have questions at any time, ask your host family or local coordinator for help. Or, you may call the CIEE office at (800) 448-9944. Good luck!