My latest column for The Times takes a fresh look at our social networking addiction, this time asking the question: is it good or bad for our younger generation to be updating their Facebook/MySpace/Bebo pages between classes or even during a lesson?

The background to this is a new survey of 500 English teens between 13 and 17. A whopping 51 per cent confessed to checking social networking sites during lessons and another quarter clock 30 minutes per day during school hours on these sites.

This is hardly the last word on social networks in the schools. Educators no doubt will have much to say about the issue as it emerges that the school day social networking habit becomes the norm. Outright bans, as we’ve seen in some corporate settings, would be a mistake. A big mistake. The ongoing saga in Canada over whether or not to expel the 18-year-old Ryerson University Chris Avenir for his role as the coordinator of a Facebook-organised chemistry study group is a bad day for academia.

Web 2.0 tools have potential in today’s classrooms as a tool for collaboration, creativity and yes, some coding.