My daughter hosted a sleepover for her 12th birthday last weekend. Things were a little different than the slumber parties I remember going to at that age.

Each time I checked on them, at least three or four guests had their heads down, looking at their phones. Two girls kept leaving the room; they seemed to be texting with someone all evening long. And when I came downstairs at an insane hour to ask them to lower their voices, one girl was at the kitchen table staring at a computer. A computer, and not one of ours – two girls had bought computers along with their sleeping bags.

So I found it interesting to read about the newest craze in Taiwan – gaming clubs. Not for playing electronic games or shooting big game, but for good old fashioned board games. At least100 such clubs have popped up on the island. Taiwanese schools are using games as teaching methods. Parents encourage board games as a way of limiting their kids’ time with electronic devices. Workers appreciate time away from a computer screen.

But I think one young man hit on the real reason the clubs have become so popular: “You can interact directly with your friends. Everyone is at leisure and chatting . . . If you play on your cellphone, not necessarily so many people can participate.” Or as the owner of one game parlor says, “Those things [computers] are just machines, and machines aren’t your friends.”

Though we think of ourselves as ultra-connected, our nonstop involvement with electronics leaves us craving genuine in-person human interaction, complete with “bursts of laughter and animated debate.” I expect to see gaming clubs or something similar on these shores before long.