If you, dear reader, are looking at this print article, then for yourself the answer to that question is probably "no". But there are plenty of other Hong Kong people - and particularly younger people - for whom, ironic though it is, their excessive use of electronic devices results in them missing out on most other forms of communication. This often inhibits the development of their own communication abilities.

I observed a simple but all-too-common example of this phenomenon the other day, when visiting an office in Central. Two staff members sitting at adjacent cubicles, were in touch - but only by computer! One sent the other an email, to which the instant reply also came by email. Why don't they just lean over their cubicle screens to speak, face-to-face, human-to-human? It is a very common sight in Hong Kong restaurants, to observe groups of people eating together but not interacting with one another on a direct person-to-person level. All they are doing is simply sitting near each other, while every member of the group is besotted with constantly handling messages on his or her laptop, iPhone, tablet or other portable IT device. They may as well have dined alone, as there was no free flow exchange between individuals in the group at such an electronic lunch!

Families coming together for their weekly yum cha gathering are all too often sadly and similarly isolated from each other because all the younger family members are apparently more interested in operating their hand-held devices, than in conducting traditional conversation with other family members. The true purpose of the weekly family gathering, is therefore nullified.

Most public speakers will be all-too-aware of the prevalence of audience members paying more attention to their hand-held communication devices than their lectures. Why bother to attend a talk at all, if you aren't going to listen to it? Yet when you look into the content of these hand-held electronic devices, one is startled to see that they consist mainly of banal exchange and triviality. "Where are you?" or "Whazup?" being particularly common. But this does not stop keen users from acting as though they are attending to matters of such importance requiring immediate, full attention! Whatever happened to prioritization and time management so that we can properly accord our daily issues the amount of time and priority they deserve? Many seem to view the wider world through the prism of their little hand-held machines.

The very-limited range of vocabulary used when communicating electronically, such as with SMS messages, inhibits the addicted user from building up a wider choice of words to use when the occasion demands it. Many a company or university selection interviewer has been taken aback by hearing the restricted and simplistic range of speech exhibited by the young people they question. The latter's obsession with electronic communications generally means that it would never occur to them to pick up a book to read. They therefore fail to extend their vocabulary range by picking up new words - or new ideas, for that matter - from reading, and the monotonous over-use of their slim range of words often does nothing to impress the interviewer. Their paucity of vocabulary can be attributed chiefly to their obsession with communicating only electronically.

Then there is the wide popularity, especially with younger males, of playing exciting computer games. Indeed, some young teenagers are addicted to them, to the exclusion of all else that life has to offer. Unfortunately, most of these games appear to encourage violent tendencies, since zapping aliens and so on is so often their key ingredient. This "zapping," which is generally bloodless, earns them points - thereby inculcating a culture where violence is rewarded, and whereby the horrific results of violence (i.e. people, or even aliens, bleeding) are not made apparent to the game addicts.

There is already ample anecdotal evidence showing the inimical consequence of spending years playing violent computer games, with some imitating in real life, the violent acts which they had previously been endlessly playing out on their machines.

Being plugged-in to headphones, as many university students are by the hour, isolates them from their peers. I was in a university coffee shop the other day and was astonished to find it, though full, virtually completely silent. Almost every other customer had something covering the ears, be it wires from a mobile phone, or headphones. There was little if any peer interaction. No wonder that many employers of fresh graduates complain that their new staff members are too often far more adept at communicating electronically than they are when actually speaking to their new colleagues at work!

The author is a Hong Kong-based commentator and university lecturer.

(HK Edition 10/23/2014 page10)