SAMMI LAI
"I
usually play ICQ for about two hours a day. I think it is a convenient form
of communication, but if I chat with the people I don't know, what they say
to me may not be true," a Form four student, Jimmy Chan, said.Chan usually plays ICQ at night. He likes to chat about things happening in his daily life and interesting subjects with his net friends.
According
to the website 'icq.com', the complete name of the ICQ program is 'I Seek You'
and it was first used over the Internet in 1996. Now there are more than 60,000,000
registered users in the ICQ program.
Nowadays, many youngsters like playing ICQ during their leisure time.
"My
students also talk with me through ICQ. Most of them tell me about their lives,
their studies and their feelings," said Leong Un Leng, a high school teacher
with ten years of experience.
"If the students are crazy about playing ICQ, this will not only affect their studies, but also their interpersonal communication skills. They will not have much interpersonal communication with others and will only spend time on the computer," Leong claimed.
"I don't think playing ICQ will have much influence on us," Kevin, another ICQ player, said. "I don't spend much time playing it," he added.
"Parents, schools and the Macau Education
Department ought to cooperate to give more guidance to the youth," said Hong
Sio Kao, a high school teacher with 12 years working experience. "The Education
Department can hold some ICQ seminars for students," Hong suggested. 
Generally,
most parents, like Chan's mother, do not have much time to care about their
children's on-line habits.
"I think we can't force them to stop playing on the computer, but we can only suggest them not to spend so much time on it," said Chan's mother. She added that schools and teachers should play a more important role in guiding the students on how to use the ICQ program correctly.
A research done by Hong Kong University in February this year pointed out that students who are introverts tend to use their real names when they play ICQ, they seldom lie, and they easily believe what the other ICQ players say.
The research also showed that they lack confidence in themselves and that they cannot make friends easily.
