Parents turn to Alexa and Google Home to help with ‘harder’ school homework

More than two-thirds of parents have turned to voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home because their child’s homework is becoming more difficult, according to a new survey.

Research from TalkTalk found that the use of smart plugs, typically used to connect voice assistants to a power source, has increased by 47% over the past year, with difficult homework being blamed for the surge.

Three quarters of parents – 75% – said school work is more difficult now than when they were at school, while more than half – 52% – said they had given the wrong answers to their child’s homework.

Two thirds  – 66% – also said they felt embarrassed for not knowing the right answer in front of their children, while 55% had secretly used voice assistants to answer their children’s questions.

According to TalkTalk’s poll of more than 1,000 parents in April 2022, parents rated history, geography and maths as the most difficult subjects, with more than half needing help with answering key stage two questions, such as the names of King Henry VIII’s wives.

Other common questions included the global population to the nearest billion, questions on the Pythagoras theorem, the names of the Hindu festivals Holi and Diwali and the date of the Great Fire of London.

Jonathan Kini, managing director at TalkTalk, said: “Our latest Internet Insights report reveals how we’re living in a golden age of gadgets.

“Across our network, customers are embracing the smart tech takeover. As am I – just the other day I found myself using our voice assistant to help with my son’s homework.”

The poll found that more than half of parents had bought new smart device technology in the last year to improve their day-to-day lives, while more than eight in ten – 84% – said having fast and reliable internet access helps their child to learn.