Singapore tops instant messaging among Asian youths

Singapore (ANTARA News) - Youths in Singapore emerged as Asia's most prolific instant messaging (IM) users, followed by Taiwan and Malaysia sharing the second spot, a research firm's survey said on Friday.

Those age 15 to 24 spend four hours and 10 minutes every day tapping out instant messages in the city-state, while their counterparts in Taiwan and Malaysia spend an average of three hours and 48 minutes exchanging text messages on their mobile devices and personal computers, said Synovate.

Thai youths are the third most avid, spending three hours and 30 minutes a day on IM, according to the rankings in The Business Times.

Synovate attributed Singapore's high internet penetration rates and public wireless networking proliferation for its showing.

The study was conducted across 11 Asian economies with 11,000 youths polled.

Online gaming is a fast-rising fad, Synovate noted. Thai youths are Asia's most prolific online gamers, spending four hours and 36 minutes a week. They are followed by youths in Taiwan, spending four hours, Singapore, three hours and 54 minutes, and Korea, three hours and 48 minutes.

A Web-immersed lifestyle and more digital choices do not necessarily result in happier youth, the survey was quoted by DPA as saying.

Young people in developing countries such as India turned out happier than those in Singapore.

In India, 89 per cent of 8-year-olds to 24-year-olds said they are "very or quite happy" with life, the survey said. They were followed by 92 per cent with similar sentiments in the Philippines and 89 per cent in Indonesia.

Seventy-two per cent expressed such feelings in Singapore. (*) end