I commend your caution, but if an adult with full faculties available to them has determined that smartphones and tablets have too many risks and downsides to be an effective tool, then what chance does a child have?
Also - why the pre-determined sequence of tech tools for your kid? I have found a much more valuable approach in general to tool selection is to first identify a problem or project, and then apply the appropriate tools. Learning tech for tech's sake to me indicates that we have become ensnared by our own tools and devices.
>Because if their kids don't have screen time, and they get bored and complain
What is fundamentally different about the world today, compared to 10 years ago (when widespread child usage of phones and tablets was vanishingly rare), that it's impossible to parent without them?
I have friends who say they cannot get their child to brush their teeth without holding a tablet in front of their face. This statement would have been considered a sign of something horribly wrong in the parent-child relationship only a few years ago.
That's fantastic, if your jam is investing in premium hardware and story-telling in video format. Personally, I can't think of a bigger waste of everyone's time than videoing my own life.
Edit: I will take your point though, that Apple at least attempts to produce premium products with a purpose. However, judging by the number of iPads and iPhones I see being used as passive content consumption interfaces, I'm not sure the outcome is much different.
Tablets and smartphones are designed at every level to be devices for consuming (or being consumed by?) content. And if you do want to create things, they are terrible tools for that.
Can confirm. Gave up a smartphone in 2020 as part of a re-evaluation of my relationship with and dependence on technology, and the immediate peace was incredible.
If I had no other way to navigate somewhere (which is possible!), I would rather pay for a dedicated satnav than put up with the downsides of a smartphone.