I’m a Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room Fellow. I wrote for Mo Willems, Emily Brundige, Tim McKeon, PBS, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Apple TV, and such and such. Those writing rooms taught me kids deserve the same respect any audience does. Are some challenged by object permanence? Sure. But don’t talk down to them. And don’t take advantage of them. I once asked Mo Willems what the target age for our show was and he shot back, “From birth to death.” I loved that.

Then I had a kid.

I have a lot of respect for children’s television. I wrote children’s television. But I didn’t always love watching my kid watch television. I liked most kid-tech options even less. AI changed who could build, and what they could make. I’m still the eleven-year-old who taught himself how to code Turbo Pascal. So I thought, “Why don’t I figure out what I want for my kid?”

I went to work at Kibeam Learning, a startup building a screenless interactive device that reads physical books, launches games, and prompts kids to jump, twirl, and move. Neat! Working alongside writers, musicians, and voice talent on a technology product, I discovered I love building tools that cut friction so creators can just create.

I also started building my own project. Tell Me a Story is an end-to-end system for parents and kids who tell stories together. The technology lives on the periphery while the focus remains on the human connections around storytelling.

I’m not saying TV shows, tablets, VR experiences, and the metaverse shouldn’t exist. But I do want more options on the menu. Technology rooted in the physical, the real world, movement, our bodies. Technology that gets out of the way and makes space for humans to be humans and kids to be kids.