Tedio
Reshaping Children's Digital Safety Through Parent-Led Design
User Research
Algorithm Desgin
Child Development
Product Strategy
Hey there :)
Tedio just launched! (Check it out here: https://tedio.online)
We’ve designed the experience to be light and actionable: there are just
10 Quick Actions total, each tailored to help support healthier digital habits.
No need to get through them all at once. Any steps you complete can make a meaningful difference for your child’s media journey.
Thanks for being part of Tedio's journey.
Warmly,
Tedio Team 🐻
Overview
Children's developing brains are really susceptible to certain design features, yet even if kids are aware of those design features, they're powerless to stop them. In Tedio's research with 22 parents and 46 surveys, 78% felt unsure about media safety; 68% lacked developmental tools.
22+
Parent Interviews.
46+
Detailed Surveys.
78%
Feel Unsure About Media Safety.
68%
Lack Developmental Tools.
One parent captured the frustration: "I don't want more controls. I want to understand what's happening." They're not alone. By age two, 40% of kids are on YouTube (Common Sense, 2025). By age eight, it's six hours a day, shaped by algorithms designed for attention, not development (SlickText, 2024)..
Tedio offers a new approach. Not another screen time tracker or rigid filter—but a parent-led process for building tools that actually reflect families' needs. We're not prescribing a product. We're designing a way to develop one—with families, not just for them.
Initial Discovery
To understand the core problem, I started by investigating the direct stakeholders—the parents. Through extensive interviews, I identified that YouTube was the primary concern, not just for inappropriate content, but for the lack of intentionality in parenting that algorithms created.
Understanding Our Users
Attentive Celia
36-year-old stay-at-home mom in Miami with a 8-year-old son
The Protective Education-Minded Parent
Motivators: Ensuring her child’s safety online while maintaining access to educational technology. Driven by desire to create healthy digital habits and encourage offline creativity.
Pain Points:
Frustrated with “all or nothing” parental control tools lacking nuance
Concerned about addictive, dopamine-driven algorithms targeting teens
Struggles with platforms allowing easy access to inappropriate or low-value content via recommendations
Jobs-to-be-Done: Reduce weekend screen time, trust online activity, and encourage personal growth offline
Behaviors: Uses a shared YouTube account, conducts intermittent monitoring, and initiates micro-conversations about content choices
Key Quote: “I feel more bad than good about his YouTube decisions… I wish he could be bored.”
The Values-Driven Working Parent
Motivators: Providing safe, value-aligned content while supporting work-from-home childcare. Focused on teaching life lessons and maintaining digital boundaries.
Pain Points:
Frustrated with lack of interactive, educational media options
Concerned that screens displace hands-on creative play
Notices mood and behavior changes after extended online time
Jobs-to-be-Done: Supplement childcare during WFH and evenings/weekends with engaging, value-based content
Behaviors: Curates TV options, avoids shows misaligned with values, keeps profiles private, and uses PBS Kids, YouTube Kids, Netflix, and ABC Mouse
Key Quote: “Kindness and thinking of others… is important to me.”
Balance Brandy
41-year-old Licensing Coordinator with 3 children in the Midwest
Key Insights
The Intentionality Gap
Through conversations with parents, I identified the key concern wasn't just dangerous content—it was the lack of intentionality in parenting that algorithms created. Parents wanted to "weed out" not only dangerous content, but "weird" and unhelpful content like weirdly dubbed videos or dopamine-inducing unboxing videos.
“I don't want to lose the intentionality as a parent when giving technology to kids.”
– Mr. A, Father of 6
“I don’t want to police my children but want to make sure they are safe from everything within these applications.”
– Ms. L, Mother of 4
Focusing on "intentionality," I identified three core goals for Tedio:
Allow parents more intention in their parenting
Decrease the opaqueness of current media platform operations
Allow users to be conscious about the media they consume—what are they being recommended and why
Product Development
Initial Approach: Transparent, Editable Algorithm
My first solution was a children's media app with a transparent, parent-editable algorithm. However, through user testing, I discovered key limitations:
Prevent Algorithmic Manipulation
Exposure to enriching content, avoiding commercial algorithms designed to maximize screen time
Empower Parents
Tools to curate a safe, positive digital environment
with an easy-to-use interface
Parents saw filters as abstract and disconnected from real needs
Tag-based curation was too rigid and reduced content diversity
Defining values was overwhelming—many said "I want all of them"
Value encoding is inherently subjective and philosophical
Business model conflicted with goal of reducing screen time
What we Learned
Redesign: Insight Engine
In response to these findings, Tedio now focuses on collaborative design with parent communities. The key insight: building a community of parents to voice their opinions is crucial for this project.
An "Insight Engine" that analyzes children's YouTube history to detect behavioral manipulation patterns (excessive skipping, binge loops) and shows parents which patterns are most prevalent in their child's media use.
Implementation Strategy
Phase 1: Insight Engine Deployment
Testing with 30 families in São Paulo and in the U.S. This isn't our "product"—it's a starter tool for collaborative exploration.
Phase 2: Community-Driven Development
Launching a 60-day storytelling challenge where families share creative, screen-free activities. This builds emotional trust, expands our reach (goal: 5K+ engaged parents), and acts as a funnel to invite sign-ups for early access, curriculum interest, or beta testing.
Phase 3: Building Solutions Together
Trying lightweight monetization ideas—like $5 parent reflection guides, school-based pilots, or early-access bundles—to see what resonates. Meanwhile, releasing a next-gen prototype shaped by feedback insights, aiming to onboard 100+ families by July.
Competitive Landscape
While streaming platforms like YouTube Kids offer curated environments, they remain tied to attention-maximizing architectures. EdTech solutions prioritize learning but don't address manipulative recommendation mechanics. Policy leaders raise awareness but lack implementation tools.
Streaming Platforms
EdTech Solutions
Policy Leaders
Academic Partners
Tedio's Unique Position: We fill the gap by actively creating actionable tools for parents. Our approach isn't just a curated library or "safe guidelines"—we help parents understand, influence, and create the mitigation tools they want.
Key Takeaways
Community First: Technical solutions alone aren't enough. Parents want to be part of the process, not just recipients of a finished product.
Process Over Product: Instead of building another app, we're designing a collaborative development process that reflects real family needs.
Trust Through Transparency: The Insight Engine helps parents understand what's happening before prescribing solutions.
Values-Driven Design: Moving beyond "appropriateness" to align content with specific family values and developmental goals.