Hong Kong  - Life would be meaningless and not worth living without the internet, nearly one in seven Hong Kong youngsters said in a survey released Friday.

   Just under 14 per cent of 1,800 respondents aged 12 to 25 insisted they could not live without the internet while 80 per cent described it as essential.

   One-quarter of respondents in the high-rise, high-tech city of 7 million, where 77 per cent of households have broadband access, said they used the internet for more than four hours a day.

   The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, which conducted the survey, said Hong Kong youngsters who spent too long online slept badly, engaged in too little exercise and risked failing eyesight.