I spent 25 years in tech, then built something completely different for my kids

I spent twenty-five years in technology getting companies ready for the future. Then I looked at my own children and realised I had no idea what future I was preparing them for.

For most of my career, that was the whole job. I worked on the vendor side, building things. Always thinking about the next innovation, what makes people tick, how to help customers get to a future-proof world faster. Staying ahead of the game. I was good at it. I loved it.

Then I became a mum, and the question changed. It stopped being about customers. It became about my own kids, and it would not leave me alone. What is the future they are growing into? And am I actually getting them ready for it?

What the screens were doing to my kids

I banned TikTok and Instagram in my house. I am not anti-screen, but those felt like too much, too soon. And even with the so-called safe apps, I watched my children turn into little screen zombies.

One of them lived in one algorithmic world. Another lived in a completely different one. Same house, same dinner table, two separate bubbles. The screens were not opening their world. They were quietly shrinking it. Feeding each child more of what they already liked, narrowing the view a little more every day.

I am not a psychologist. But after years of parenting and a career spent inside this industry, I knew it in my bones. This could not be right.

The research has started to catch up with what so many of us see at home. According to the 2025 Common Sense Census, children aged five to eight now spend around three and a half hours a day on screens. Over the same years, reading for pleasure has kept falling. The hours are real, and they add up.

The thing I could not stop thinking about

My purpose as a parent has always been simple. I want to show my children how extraordinary this planet is. How amazing other cultures, countries, and people are. How much wonder there is beyond our own small corner of the world.

But every hour on a screen seemed to pull the other way. And when I looked up from my own home at the wider world, I saw the same pattern everywhere. More fear of anyone different. More certainty. More tribes. I cannot prove the connection. But I cannot unsee it either.

So I kept asking one question. When these children are adults, when AI handles the routine work and crises cross every border, what will actually matter? What stays uniquely human? I kept landing in the same place. Empathy. Curiosity. The ability to work with people who are not like you. Not nice-to-haves. Survival skills for the world ahead.

What we built instead

We cannot fight technology. It is woven into childhood now. But we can change what it is for. That question would not let me sleep. So my co-founder Matt and I started building.

Not as a clever business idea first, but to solve a problem I was living. Matt and I are co-founders, not a couple. We are both parents, though, and so are many people on our team. Between all of our families there are more than enough children to keep us honest. We called it Unomundi, which means one world.

Unomundi is an app where children aged six to twelve explore cultures through stories, games, and conversations with Una, a warm and curious guide. Think of Una as an older sibling who has travelled everywhere and cannot wait to share what she has found.

When my daughter asks her a question, Una does not say correct or good job. She says, oh, you noticed that, want to know something else amazing about this place?

My daughter learned about a Dutch captain who steered his ship into a broken dike to plug the hole and save thousands of sleeping people. My son found out that pink dolphins are real, that they live in the Amazon, and that there is a folk tale about them turning into the best dancers under a full moon. I did not know that either. That is the point. It does not feel like homework. It feels like play.

No ads. No dark patterns. No streaks designed to keep them scrolling. Everything held to the standard I would set for my own children. Because that is exactly the standard I am holding it to.

Where we are now

We are building in the open, and Unomundi is in beta now. We would love more parents exploring it alongside us. Parents who believe screen time can build bridges instead of walls. If that sounds like you, come and help us shape what this becomes.

Because in the end, that is what this is about. Giving our children screen time that does not just keep them busy, but helps them grow into kind, curious people who know the world is vast and beautiful, and that they belong to all of it.

Sign up to test our beta now

FAQs

What is Unomundi?

Unomundi is a cultural-discovery app where children aged 6 to 12 explore countries and cultures through stories, games, and conversations with Una, a warm AI guide. There are no ads and no addictive design.

Why was Unomundi created?

It was started by two parents who wanted screen time to widen their children's world instead of shrinking it, and to help kids grow up curious about other cultures rather than afraid of them.

How much screen time do young children get on average?

Children aged 5 to 8 spend around three and a half hours a day on screens, according to the 2025 Common Sense Census.