Young Thais are the second biggest media junkies in Asia, spending almost 13 hours a day watching television and videos, listening to the radio, on the Internet or reading newspapers and magazines.

This is the finding of Hong Kong-based global research company Synovate.

Young Malaysians are the biggest media junkies, spending 12.9 hours a day on these activities, followed by Thailand at 12.8 hours and Hong Kong at 12.2. The company's third annual Young Asians study covers 11 countries across the Asia-Pacific region.

The respondents say: "The Internet and mobile phones ... are an absolute necessity." Thirty-seven per cent of the region's youth says it "cannot live without the Internet" and 29 per cent is "unable to function without their mobile phones".

Young people in Thailand are the region's biggest chatterboxes. They spend a total of two hours 47 minutes a day on the phone, more than two hours of which is on their mobiles.

Young people here are also the biggest electronic gamers, spending more than one hour a day, followed by Singaporeans at 59 minutes and Hong Kong gamers at 56 minutes.