Watched by strangers: China mother live-streams son, 9, doing homework, says he works 3 times faster
- 900 people watch boy doing entire weekend of study in one evening
- Mother says method frees her for housework, caring for 3-year-old
A mother in China has been live-streaming her son doing his homework so he could be watched by strangers online, in an unconventional attempt to boost the boy’s focus on learning.
The mother, surnamed Zhang, from southwestern China’s Sichuan province, began live-streaming her nine-year-old’s study sessions, using her Douyin account, in the first week of 2024.
She said the effect was “surprising”, and claimed her son finished his homework two to three times faster than usual. He had also stopped habits such as playing with his eraser while studying.
Zhang said that on January 6, more than 900 people observed the boy doing his schoolwork that evening, and he finished the entire weekend’s work in just one session.
She said the live-streaming has put her son under the watch of “many eyes”, also freeing her from the burden of supervising him while juggling housework and looking after her other three-year-old child.
Douyin does not allow minors to appear in its live-streams, so Zhang only shows her son’s hands and his homework in the sessions.