[glomgril]

I have a very similar plan involving a Raspberry Pi, I agree that it's a great middle ground.

IMO screentime that only involves video calls with family is perfectly fine, especially if it is a group activity. In general (timeboxed) social activities that involve multiple people watching/interacting with a single screen don't seem as potentially consuming (e.g. a Super Bowl party). That's our arms-length strategy at this point. Seems to have worked quite well so far w.r.t. not getting obsessed with electronics. We'll see what happens when peers start getting phones/tablets though...