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Mobile love - teenagers get intimate with their handsets.

Published on Sep 17, 2002 The Nation

Teenagers' obsession for mobile phones may a lot worse than parents think, judging by the results of a survey that found kids treated their handsets with the same affection as "friends" and "lovers".

Far East DDB interviewed 200 teenagers aged between 12 and 16 in Bangkok about how they like to spend their free time. Some 22 per cent of those surveyed said their favourite pastime was chatting or sending SMS messages on their mobiles.

A total of 52 per cent said they saw mobile phones as essential in keeping in contact with friends and loved ones and another 19 per cent said mobile phones made the world a smaller place.

Twenty-three per cent saw their cell phones as "friends" and "lovers" that they could not do without.

Of those teenagers who were not getting intimate with their handsets, 14 per cent said their favourite pastime was playing the online computer game "Ragnarok", while 12 per cent favoured mucking around on computers in general.

Surprisingly, only 7 per cent said sport was their favourite way to spend free time, and 5 per cent preferred studying. Another 4 per cent said they like to follow fashions and listen to music

Handheld Palm device or pocket PCs were the hi-tech gadgetry teenagers most desired with 41 per cent opting for Palms and 40 per cent for pocket PCs.

Another 39 per cent said that they most wanted a hi-tech watch, while 3 per cent craved a notebook computer, and 1 per cent an MP3 player.