# Is Homework Actually Helping Your Child?

An episode of [Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1082244480), 30 Mar 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/187/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/fa326977-3de5-4283-9b8b-af3500c58607/b69b2795-5503-4de1-ac91-af460017906e/5daf0bb7-1209-4d83-ba8b-b41500bdf775/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=a05f1702-0c0e-4b0f-8014-af460017907c

What if the nightly homework battle… isn’t worth fighting? In this episode, we unpack a surprising truth about primary school homework that challenges everything parents have been told. Plus, breaking global news reveals a major court ruling against social media giants, and why it should completely change how we think about screens at home. If you’re exhausted by homework resistance or worried about screen time, this episode will shift your perspective fast. KEY POINTS • Why primary school homework often does more harm than good • The real reason kids resist homework (and it’s not laziness) • What actually improves academic outcomes in younger children • The one simple habit that matters more than any worksheet • Landmark court ruling finds social media platforms contributed to harm • How persuasive tech design is keeping kids hooked • Why this changes the conversation around screens for parents QUOTE OF THE EPISODE “Kids don’t hate homework because they’re lazy. They hate it because it’s either pointless or painful.” ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS • Drop the pressure around primary school homework • Prioritise reading daily (together or independently) • Protect unstructured play time after school • Limit passive screen use where possible • Focus on connection and curiosity over compliance See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[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.

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