Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / Is Homework Actually Helping Your Child?

Transcript

Is Homework Actually Helping Your Child? · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hello, this is the Happy Families Podcast. Every Tuesday on
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the pod, we answer your tricky questions. There's been a
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: lot of news, a lot of conversation, and a lot
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of questions lately about homework today, what do you do
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: with a nine year old who's just uninspired doesn't want
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to do homework. Oh We're going to cut this one
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: in half though, because there is brand new, fresh news
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: out of the United States where Meta has been taken
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: to court their products Instagram and Facebook allegedly cause addiction
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and terrible mental health in young people. It's been tested
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: in the courts and we have a verdict much faster,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: much earlier than I anticipated. It's very interesting and this
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: matters for every parent. We're going to discuss both in
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: today's episode of the Happy Families Podcast. Next, this is
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the Happy Families podcast. Hello and welcome Real parenting Solutions
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: every single day. It's Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast where
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Justice and Kylie Carson. Every Tuesday on the pod, we
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: answer your tricky questions about anything, screens, discipline, bedtimes, food,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: just you name it. If you're struggling with it with kids,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: getting on the same page as your partner us is anything.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: We will talk to you about how to make your
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: family happy at But first before we get into today's question,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: we have breaking news.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I didn't think we'd be talking about Meta for a
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: while now, but what's happening?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Okay, So basically, about a month ago, a month and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: a half ago, we discussed on the podcast that Meta
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: had been taken to court Mark Zuckerberg was going to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: be on trial. During that court case in California, the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: CEO or the managing director or whoever it was of
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Instagram basically said, no, our products are not known to
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: cause addiction, and anything you've heard of the contrary is
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: just a media beat up. There's nothing the matter with
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: this stuff. Quoting from a newsplatform news dot com, dot
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: a you, Meta and YouTube, so it's both Meta and YouTube.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: YouTube is owned, as you know, by Alphabet, who also
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: owns Google. Meta and YouTube have been found liable for
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: harming a young woman through the addictive design of their platforms.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: The Landmark decision could set a precedent for hundreds of
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: similar cases after a now twenty year old woman accused
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: the tech giants of intentionally addicting her to the apps,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: causing anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts. The court has
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: ordered the company's pay a total of three million dollars
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: in damages.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: This is huge.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: That's really big.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: This is yep, And I get the impression it's going
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: to set the precedents for cases that will follow.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Well, potentially the lawyers for the plaintiff, that is, the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: lawyers for the person who is accusing Matter and YouTube
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: alphabet of being addictive and creating the mental health challenges
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: that they experienced. That the lawyer said accountability has arrived.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: A spoke for Meticine that they respectfully disagree with the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: verdict and would weigh their options. In other words, they're
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: got to appeal. So this is definitely not over. But
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: you're right. The reality is evidence continues to point in
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the direction increasingly that, among many other things, increased social
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: media access is associated with really really damaging issues for
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: many people when it comes to the mental health. I
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: didn't think that it would be fair. I thought there
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: would be too many complicating factors. I didn't think this
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: outcome would be achieved. And you can quote be on
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: it because here's what I said in that podcast. The
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: challenge here is the burden of proof. How do you
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: prove that it was social media? How do you prove
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: that it was the persuasive design elements? How do you
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: prove that it was intentional and inappropriate behavior by the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: social media platforms that has created the mental health problem
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: that you're dealing with. That's going to be the challenge.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: And of course, the whole justice system is you're innocent
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: until proven guilty. Therefore, the burden of proof is on
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the person who says that they are aggrieved. They are
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the plaintiff in this case. Can I just say I'm
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: so happy? I'm so happy? It's a slap on the rist.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: From a fine point of view. Three million dollars is
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: what they've been fined, so not really much of a challenge.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: But but the big news is that these companies may
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: be forced to redesign their products to make them safer
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: for people to use without brain rot, without decreased cortical development,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: that is, brains are literally thinning. In fact, there's this
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: thing called the Flinn effect. The Flint effect is basically
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: IQ tests. We have to keep on updating IQ tests
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: because people are getting smarter. We have to keep on
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: changing them because for the last since we've been measuring
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: IQ the last one hundred and twenty years. People just
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: generation to generation are getting smarter and smarter every single generation,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: but we want to keep the IQ mean of one hundred,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: so therefore the IQ tests have to be updated. In
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the last fifteen to twenty years, the flin effect has disappeared.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: The new generations are not getting smarter, and I think
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: a huge part of it has to do with the
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: way that we're now using technology and with AI. I
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: think the AI companies would be watching this very closely
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: because their products are also designed to be compelling and
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: in some cases addictive. I think that they want to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: watch out next.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Do you foresee this will have any kind of flow
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: on impact to the way parents respond to children's screen use.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I hope that it does. That's why I'm talking about
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: it today on the podcast, because when you get a
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: court saying this product, this algorithm, meta alphabet, and we
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: can look at a whole bunch of others as well. TikTok,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at you roadblocks the games as well, because
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: they're designed with similar persuasive design principles. When courts are
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: actually saying there is now sufficient evidence for us to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: find this company millions of dollars three hundred and seventy
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: five million dollars in damages. They sought to point two billion.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: By the way, they got three hundred and seventy five
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: million dollars in damages. When we as parents hear that
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the courts are now finding these companies guilty of something
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: that is unconscionable, of intentionally designing products to addict, that
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: should make every parents sit up and say, Yeah, we've
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: been talking about it for ages. Okay, let's do something
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: about it. I really hope it does, That's why we're
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: talking about it. The reality is, I don't think that
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: it will. And I say that based on the number
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: of parency show up when I do a resilience night
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: versus the number of parents you show up when I
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: do a screen addiction night.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Knowing how courts work and the idea that they have
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: to prove that they've been you've got to prove guilt, well, unlawful,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: not morally corrupt, but unlawful. Right, This feels like a
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: completely moralistic challenge as opposed to lawful, because they haven't
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: essentially broken any laws.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So here's what they were found. They were found
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: guilty specifically of the following they were found negligent in
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the design and operations of their platforms, negligent design, failure
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to warn, so the jury found that both companies knew
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: or should have known, that their services posed a danger
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: to children. They were found guilty of creating addictive design features.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: So the successful argument was features like infinite scroll, AutoPlay,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: and excessive notifications are deliberately designed to create addictive all
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: day usage and in another case, that's just happened where
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: they've been found guilty as well in New Mexico violating
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: state law misleading users. Metal was found to have misled
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp regarding
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: how safe they actually were on the platform, enabling exploitation.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: The law suit acused Meta facilitating child sexual exploitation through
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: its platforms design features which helped connect predators with miners.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And like I said, in one of them, there was
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: about three million dollars damages in the other one three
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five million dollars in damages in both
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: cases appealing, but yes, they've been found to have broken
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the law law in terms of behaving maliciously, fraudulently and
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: not letting people know the risks of using their platforms.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Well, we can only hope that we have some more
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: positive outcomes for families and that people start to actually
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: really take notice.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and act highlights why that social medium in major
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: legislation matters so much. It also highlights the urgency and
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: making sure that the companies are doing it, and we
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: all know that they're not around a bunch of presentations
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: last week all over Victoria and parents consistently we're saying, yeah,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: my kids are still on these platforms even though they're
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: supposed to be off, Like the E Safety Commissioner is
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: not biting hard enough here, and these platforms are not
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: complying with the relevant legislation at all.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Let's hope.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Let's hope that this fight continues. Okay, after the break,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: question about homework that every parent of a nine year
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: old will want to hear. We're back. This is the
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Happy Family's podcast Today. A tricky question. You can send
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: your tricky questions to podcasts at Happy families dot com
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: dot you Just jump on there and leave us a
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: voice note. Email it to us podcasts at happy families
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: dot com dot you, or go to happy Families dot
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: com dot you scroll down to where it says podcasts
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: press the talk here, but then just start talking. It's
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: a super simple system. And this one came through from Ali.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Hi, Justin, and Kylie. I have a nine year old daughter.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: She's in grade four, and we really really struggle with
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: homework motivation. We put it off and put it off
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: unless I really encourage her to do it. She feels
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: like it is unnecessary and boring and she is not
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: interested in it at all. We have had conversations about
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: forming good habits and how it's more about revision and
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: helping us to learn, but still, year after year we
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: come up against a bit of a brick wall. She
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: doesn't want to do at How can I have conversations
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: with her when I know myself I used to leave
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: my homework to the last minute. Any help would be
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: greatly yet appreciated.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Thanks.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: I don't think Allie's going to like us very well.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: I think she's going to love us very much. This
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: one's so easy. So a couple of weeks ago, we
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: did another Ask a Tricky Question episode on homework, and
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: let me restate very briefly what we said. If your
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: kids are in primary school, stop worrying about it. Allie,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: you hated it. Why did you hate it? I mean,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: obviously Alie can't answer me back, but just pause for
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: a moment. Why did you hate homework when you were
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: in primary school? Here's the answer, because if you understood
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: how to do, it was boring, and if you didn't
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: understand how to do it was demotivating, frustrating, and you
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and your parents would start fighting about it.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: But not only that. I've been sitting in a chair
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: for seven hours.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Let's do overtime, kids.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Seriously, I'm a kid. I just want to come home,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: hang out with my friends, or play in the backyard,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: eat some ice cream, whatever.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: So the only thing that I would say is worse
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: than homework is spending the afternoon on a screen. Okay,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: So if you've got the choice between doing homework and
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: rotting your brain on a screen, I would say, get
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the kids to do the homework. But let me quote
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: from the twenty nineteen Parliamentary Inquiry and a Homework in Victoria.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: It was significant inquiry that addressed approaches to homework in
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Victorian schools that was conducted by the Education and Training
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Committee in Victoria's Parliament, and what they found is number
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: one there's a whole lot of variable practices between schools
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: across schools in Victoria and around the nation. The inquiry
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: found that the quality of homework had a much greater
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: impact on student learning out comes than the amount of
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: time spent on it. The committee also noted that there
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: was limited quantifiable evidence and research available regarding how effective
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: homework actually is it improving student achievement or attitude towards learning.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: The very short version of all of that is to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: say that the committee couldn't find any reason for us
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: to be doing homework with primary school aged school students.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: I wish I could hug them.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there just is no evidence that homework is benefiting
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: your child if they're in primary school. The global evidence
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: on homework suggests that if your child is in high school,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: then maybe one to two hours a day, particularly in
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the upper years of high school, will be associated with
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: academic outcomes, so long as they're actually doing the homework
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: and not pretending to do homework while they're scrolling through
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: TikTok and Instagram. So alie, really easy one take the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: pressure off. You didn't like it, there was a reason
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: for it. It was waste of time. Your children don't like it.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Your nine year old doesn't like it because it's a
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: waste of time in that grade. There is one caveat
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: one exception, one carve out here, and that is read
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Read Read, Read, Yeah, but don't read for a certain
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: amount of time. Just read because it's good. Read because
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: that's what we do. Read because reading is fun. Don't
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: read the color in the color chart or the color
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: wheel or any of that stuff, because that's.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: If your child's not interested in reading, read to them.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how old they are, just get them
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: involved in reading.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: So the thing to bear in mind here is if
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: you want your children to do well at school, we're
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: talking here about motivation for schoolwork. We're talking about interest
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: in learning, and we're talking about academic outcomes. Reading, unstructured activities,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: play time, and time with family. They're the things that
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: are going to have the biggest impact on their academic outcomes,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: especially in these primary school years when they're supposed to
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: be kids not pulling a second shift after they've done
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: a full day.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: I know this is all about academic outcomes, but ultimately
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: we want our children to live purposeful, happy, fulfilling lives.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Great last words, Alie thanks so much for the question.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: If you have a tricky question, hit us up with
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: it podcasts at happy families dot com dot you or
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: happy families dot com dot you. Scroll down to the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: super simple system were oppress the record button and start
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: talking and we will have more tricky questions for you
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: next week. The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Ruland from Bridge Media. Mimhammonds provides additional support for the pod,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: and if you're looking for more information and resources to
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: make your family happier, visit happy families dot com dot you.