GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION Children are the fastest growing population on the web. They comprise the majority of users and are often more Internet-savvy than their parents. This course reviews the potential dangers of Internet use among children, such as Internet pornography, online pedophiles, violent games, and Internet addiction. In particular, this course examines new trends in online gambling and online gaming addiction among children and adolescents. Recent studies suggest these activities are as addictive as drugs and alcohol and the AMA recently considered adopting video game addiction as a distinct disorder. Finally, this course looks at the phenomenon of social networking sites such as MySpace, the lurking dangers of Internet predators, and steps in child online safety. This intermediate course consists of five articles. The first article reviews parenting issues for the digital generation. Parents and clinicians are introduced to the hidden dangers of children's Internet use, such as cyber-predators, access to Internet pornography, violent games, and Internet addiction, to name a few. The article examines specific ways that parents can communicate and intervene with their children when these problems occur. The second article looks at the effects of Internet sex on children. Curious children may actively seek out graphic pornographic images over the Internet or participate in online sex chat rooms. As the digital generation is much more computer-savvy, using the Internet to learn about sex is often the first place they look. This third article reviews the types of Internet sex children can be exposed to and the emotional and behavioral consequences. Within the last few years, online gaming addiction has become a major clinical problem. Children give up sleep, don't eat, and skip school just to play interactive online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft or Halo. This article helps clinicians with diagnosis, risk factors, and treatment considerations of online gaming addiction and reviews how they can work with parents and children to help break the denial. The fourth article reviews the rapidly growing problem of teen online gambling and provides information on diagnosis, risk factors, and treatment considerations. The fifth article discusses Myspace, one of the fastest growing social networking sites for children. While MySpace offers children new opportunities to express themselves and to communicate with friends, Internet predators are always lurking. Many have seen the show TO CATCH A PREDATOR and know all too well how easy it is for children to be fooled by online pedophiles and adults looking to meet for sex. This article reviews the profiles of typical victims and outlines specific strategies for child online safety for parents, as well as guidelines for teens and young adults who use these sites.