S'pore youths most wired in Asia

Aug 3, 2010
By Jalelah Abu Baker
In a regional survey of 11 countries by market research firm Synovate, Singaporeans aged eight to 24 came up tops in the ownership of laptop computers, television game consoles and smartphones.. -- PHOTO: NP
SINGAPOREAN youths are the most wired lot in Asia, according to survey results released on Monday, and - perhaps in keeping with their love of material goods - they are most receptive to mobile advertising.

In a regional survey of 11 countries by market research firm Synovate, Singaporeans aged eight to 24 came up tops in the ownership of laptop computers, television game consoles and smartphones.

Almost half of those surveyed here, or 47 per cent, own laptops, nearly three times more than the 18 per cent average in Asia.

Four in 10 own game consoles like an Xbox and PlayStation at home, compared to an average of 16 per cent for the region.

And one in five owns a smartphone, a mobile phone with Web access and high-tech functions. China and Hong Kong trail close behind.

The survey, which was assisted by Synovate's research partners Microsoft Advertising, Yahoo and Friendster, polled more than 12,000 young people in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Korea, among others.

My views:
Indeed Singaporeans youth are very privilege to be able to enjoy the use of such electronic gadgets. These gadgets also have make changes in our daily life and have influence us greatly. It is even more common to see a person possessing all of the three items-laptop, game console and smartphone. Or one would at least own one of these electronic gadgets. With all of this smart inventions coming out, youths today are more and more IT savvy as compared to before.

For example, students nowadays would carry laptops to school for lessons or for project work, especially those students studying in polytechnic or university.

When you are travelling on a public transport, you will also tend to see young children taking out their game console to play and to kill boredom.

Lastly, for smartphones, you will definitely spot someone using smartphone or at least a normal phone just awhile after stepping out of your house.

This regional survey also shows that generally, Singaporeans should be earning quite a lot and also financially stable to be able to afford these technologies. Thus, their children can enjoy and benefit from the information provided by the latest technology such as reading news or doing research using their laptop and also for leisure purposes. However, there are bound to be pros and cons in every situation. Therefore, one should not be too reliant on the technology and worst still, get hooked to it and unable to get rid of the bad habits such as being addicted to games or videos.