Im not sure if we abided by the age of 2. But I will say we have moderated screen time, computer time and TV time (if they should be separated) and do moderate them. To the point that many of my 1st graders peers have much more experience with things like games than he does.
This can be a double sided sword. My kid now, when he DOES get screentime will become fully engrossed it in. Especially games, and will borderline be obsessive. Which is counter to what he wants, because then we moderate it more.
I had cousins that were similar. Were so limited on things like TV, they would just get engrossed. They had TV days and no TV days and TV days were limited to a couple hours. On the whole it seemed good but they would rush to get up at 6am to watch TV and would be basically zombies. While I had relatively unfettered access (I had a TV in my room by age 10 or 11), I was able to learn to self-moderate and not be obsessive.
And thats where I will need to land with my kid. Find a way to allow him some time and to learn to self moderate. I will say Nintendo does this well. You can set a limit on the console and let them somewhat manage it themselves. (they still have to ask us to pick it up currently, but maybe we change that).
I was raised similarly to your cousins. We had fairly strictly limited times when we could watch TV, or especially, play computer games. As I got older, and started having more freedom, I would frequently use that freedom to play excessive amounts of games for an unhealthy amount of time, to the point where other important things like schoolwork sometimes suffered. The restrictions made it very difficult for me to develop self-control where tv and video games are concerned.
There are some caveats there. The restrictions on screens as a child meant that I was forced to find other ways to entertain myself, both via using my imagination and via spending time in the outdoors, which both formed some excellent childhood memories for myself and laid a foundation for some of my favorite characteristics about myself as an adult.
At any rate, I'm fortunate that I was/am able to be functional despite having the above-mentioned self-control issues; I now have a graduate degree and a great career. I'm now in my 30s and have parenthood coming (looming!) in a few months. We have not yet fully decided what our screen time rules will be.
I would say part of it too is nature (vs nurture). Those same cousins never developed that propensity into adulthood at all. And its likely that was due to how well they were parented overall.
Myself had a bit of a different household and those things I had to learn on my own. The lack of restrictions made me grow up a bit sooner. Neither really right or wrong. But some people dont have the best self control (even in adulthood). Ive brought that up with the WFH conversations here. Theres bias here because i would wager many are high performers and have great self control, but working with people I have noticed many adult colleagues arent that well self disciplined and putting them in the office setting does help.
This can be a double sided sword. My kid now, when he DOES get screentime will become fully engrossed it in. Especially games, and will borderline be obsessive. Which is counter to what he wants, because then we moderate it more.
I had cousins that were similar. Were so limited on things like TV, they would just get engrossed. They had TV days and no TV days and TV days were limited to a couple hours. On the whole it seemed good but they would rush to get up at 6am to watch TV and would be basically zombies. While I had relatively unfettered access (I had a TV in my room by age 10 or 11), I was able to learn to self-moderate and not be obsessive.
And thats where I will need to land with my kid. Find a way to allow him some time and to learn to self moderate. I will say Nintendo does this well. You can set a limit on the console and let them somewhat manage it themselves. (they still have to ask us to pick it up currently, but maybe we change that).