No, you're right to be horrified, and I'm the mom of a three year old who will look for things to take apart if left to his own devices.
Current screen policy: only "his" laptop, only videos I've picked out for him (currently, he's into Alphablocks and Numberblocks), laptop gets closed and put up for the rest of the day the instant he whines about having to stop watching for whatever reason.
Not the person you replied to and don't have kids yet, but with the current state of TV, I'd much rather let my child watch their entertainment on an old laptop (or tablet or whatever) that I control rather than a TV.
They can more easily watch with headphones, they can even watch in private if they're introverted, and I'd feel a lot better knowing they won't switch channels without my knowledge or watch adverts for stupid plastic trash.
They do benefit from access to technology to an extent though: they need to know about it in order to fully interact with the world they are to grow up into.
At what point this becomes necessary is a matter of much argument. They certainly don't need it in the first few years, but I'd suggest they need to be at least aware by the time they are going to school.
It is difficult to separate this from entertainment, because being entertained/interested/curious is largely how our brains do some of their best learning at early ages.
> Kids lived that way for a very long time.
Be careful with appeals to tradition.
The world doesn't exactly work the way it did a long time ago, so we are not preparing kids for the same life they were expected to experience back then.
My sister was ardently opposed to screens for my niece.
She quickly capitulated when she learned that iPads are magical nannies that will totally occupy your child and give you precious time to get other stuff done.
So "screen but only with approved content in moderation" became the norm.
If I had a child and I wanted to make sure that they could only watch the videos I chose for them then I would have a laptop for them to use, and I could absolutely see myself calling it "their laptop" in casual conversation.
“His” laptop that is locked down to the point that I will be proud if/when he manages to see anything I didn’t put on there, versus all the less-restricted devices in the house.
Current screen policy: only "his" laptop, only videos I've picked out for him (currently, he's into Alphablocks and Numberblocks), laptop gets closed and put up for the rest of the day the instant he whines about having to stop watching for whatever reason.