The possibilities of things you can do are endless with the Internet. There should be no reason to be bored. Below is a full list of our top suggestions of things to do on the Internet.
Learning and research
The Internet contains an endless supply of information, answers questions, learn more about something you enjoy, or learn something new. Using any popular search engine, you can find anything or use one of the following links.
Learning and research.
Multimedia - Music, radio, podcasts, videos, vlogs, and webcam
Games and entertainment.
Improve yourself.
Shop online stores and auctions.
Directions, maps, and geographic information.
Get fit, find a date, or locate a social event.
Keep up with current events.
Communicate in chat, e-mail, forums, IM, blogs, and VoIP.
Surf and find popular pages.
Wikipedia, Wikibooks, and Encyclopedia of Life are great examples of community-driven wikis with a wealth of information generated by contributors.
E-books - Hundreds of thousands of books have been scanned and are available on the Internet. Visit this page to see a list of sites where you can find free e-books.
Academic Earth and Khan Academy have thousands of online lectures that can be watched on many different topics.
How to find information on the Internet.
Multimedia - Music, radio, podcasts, videos, vlogs, and webcam
With more users using broadband, multimedia websites are becoming a popular destination. Although dial-up users can do almost all of the below suggestions, these may not be as enjoyable with a slow connection. Below are our favorite multimedia-related pages on the Internet.
Videos
Videos are also now becoming a great source of entertainment on the Internet. Below are a few locations where you can watch videos of all types.
YouTube and Vimeo are great starting points for posting and viewing videos online.
If you want to watch inspiring and educational videos, we highly recommend starting at TED.
Watch TV shows and movies on the Internet - Full listing of sites to watch TV shows, movies, and other related videos on the Internet.
Sites like eBaum’s World, Motherboard.tv, and VideoSift are other great places with communities of users who find and vote on the best videos.
Do you enjoy playing or watching computer games? Sites like Twitch lets you watch and interact with millions of other people playing computer games.
Homestarrunner - A funny and often witty site containing a collection of short animated comedy clips.
Where can I post my pictures, movies, or other files online for free?
Webcam
Online webcams allow you to peer into almost any other part of the world. There are millions of online webcams around the world and many sites that allow users to communicate via webcams.
- EarthCam - Our favorite and, in our opinion, the best place to find live webcams from around the world.
Images and Art
- Flickr - By far, one of the most used and respected image sites on the Internet that allows everyone to upload, share, and view pictures of almost everything.
- DeviantArt - A fantastic page with an extensive collection of community-uploaded art and pictures.
Radio or streaming audio
Internet radio and streaming audio is another fantastic service for broadband users. Today, many audio player programs, such as Microsoft Windows Media Player, Winamp, and the iTunes player, include a radio function. Opening these programs lets you play radio stations for nearly any music genre you can imagine. There are other options as well, including streams of radio stations in your local area. Below is a short listing of some sites.
- Pandora - A fantastic service that lets you specify a song or artist you like and then generate a live radio station based on the songs you enjoy.
- Live One, Radio-locator, and Live365 are all fantastic sites that let you find radio stations and top streaming music.
- Last.fm - Yet another fantastic site for finding out more about music artists, listening to radio stations, finding related artists, etc.
Find and purchase music
With the introduction of MP3 files, downloadable music is another popular thing to do on the Internet. Below is a short list of services that allow users to download music from thousands of different artists legally.
Music lyrics
There are many different pages to find the lyrics to any of your favorite songs. Try Lyrics.com to find your favorite song lyrics.
Podcasts and talk radio
Internet podcasts and talk radio shows are radio broadcasts where one or more people talk about something they enjoy, news, a service, etc. See our podcast page for a selection of computer-related podcasts.
Vlog
A vlog, or video log, is similar to a blog, except it is a video. See the vlogging definition for additional information about this term and vlog services.
TV and movie research
One of the most interesting and informative locations on the Internet for movie information such as cast names, directors, year made, awards, etc. is IMDb (short for Internet movie database). Want to browse through movie posters back to 1913, try IMP Awards. Want to find the full script of movies? Try IMSDb.
Games and entertainment
Online games are another popular Internet activity enjoyed by people of all ages. Many online games are played by visiting a website. Below is a listing of some sites.
- Steam is an online digital distribution platform where users can download free and low-cost games to a computer.
- MSN Games, Pogo, iWin, Shockwave, and Newgrounds are all great pages containing thousands of free online games for users of all ages. These games are often done in Flash, Shockwave, or Java and can be played through your browser without downloading and installing the game.
- Second Life - A fascinating online world you can connect to freely, where hundreds of thousands of other real people have created a place to live, shops, clothing, worlds, and more.
- FreeSlots - A free and somewhat addicting site with many different online playable slot machines.
- Penny-arcade, Dilbert, and xkcd are a few of the thousands of different available comics online.
There are thousands of additional online game sites. Searching for “online games” or “flash games” return an almost endless supply of games. Also, see this popular forum post on our site for other free downloadable games.
Improve yourself
Improve yourself and your abilities by practicing what you are not good at or by watching how-to videos. Below are some different examples.
- There are many places to ask questions and find answers about any topic. For example, learn a new language, how to play an instrument, how to dance, how to cook, or improve in a sport.
- HowStuffWorks - Ever wonder how something works, this is your site. HowStuffWorks goes into a great deal on how things in the world work.
- Mental_floss - Another great page that gives you fascinating tidbits of knowledge every day, brain teasers, and more.
- Learn to type - Type slow? Practice typing and read through our suggestions on learning how to type faster.
Shop online stores and auctions
Internet shopping is another popular and fun thing to do on the Internet. Below are a few examples of popular online stores, auction sites, and other retail-related pages.
Directions, maps, and geographic information
Finding directions and getting maps to almost anywhere in the world is also becoming another popular destination on the Internet. See the map definition for a listing of some services.
Get fit, find a date, or locate a social event
Find a date
There are several online dating sites and sites that help people meet new friends. One of our favorite places that does both is PlentyOfFish.
Away from the computer
Many online services list local events, meetings, and reviews in your area of the World. Some of our favorites are Meetup and Yelp.
Keep up with current events
There are millions of news sites around the world to keep up with current events. However, there are a few gems among them. Below are our favorites.
- Google News - Another fantastic Google service that gathers news articles from everywhere on the Internet and organizes them into a page of easy-to-read headlines.
- Upstract - A site that brings all popular website articles to one large listing.
- TED - Great site that brings the smartest people in the world to share ideas and thoughts that are both informative and inspirational.
- Ignite- A series of short, educational presentations.
- FARK - A great site that takes all the news headlines from around the world and puts them in an easy-to-read and follow format.
Communicate in chat, e-mail, forums, IM, blogs, and VoIP
Communicating with friends, family, and other people all over the world is a popular thing to do on the Internet. Below are common ways to do this.
Social networking
Social networking sites are a popular destination for Internet users of all ages. These places help you create a presence on the Internet and connect with all your current and past friends, family, and co-workers. Popular social networking sites today and a great place to start is Facebook and Twitter. See the social networking definition for other alternatives.
Chat
Chat is a popular method of communicating live with other users interested in the same things you are. See the chat definition for further information and examples of places to chat on the Internet.
E-mail is one of the best methods of communicating on the Internet. If you do not have an e-mail address or want an additional e-mail address, consider setting up a webmail account. See the webmail definition for further information and examples.
Forums and bulletin boards
A forum is a place for users to post questions, messages, and other conversations and allow users to participate in something they enjoy. For example, the Computer Hope forum is where users can ask questions about computers and talk about computers. Search for a board relating to a topic you are interested in and become a member. For example, a search for “Acura car forum” would find results for forums relating to the Acura cars.
Blogs
A blog, or weblog, is a location for a person to post a log or diary of their life or about something they enjoy. See the blog definition for further information about this term and examples of the services you can use to create a blog.
VoIP
Users with broadband connections can use VoIP to talk to other users all around the world, much like a phone. See the VoIP definition for additional information about this technology and some services that provide it.
Surf and find popular pages
Something most people find themselves often doing on the Internet is going from one page to another page surfing the Internet. You can find interesting pages to surf by starting at Reddit.
Finally, if you are looking for something, consider searching for it. If you can think of it, it’s on the Internet.
Related information
- Where can a senior citizen go online?
- How do I connect to the Internet?
- See the Internet definition for further information and related links.
- Internet help and support.
