Can we really stay tv-free with a toddler and newborn?

[Patienceisapparentlyavirtue]

Our nearly 2 year old has never watched tv or used our tablets/phones - this isn't a massive ideological thing for us, but has worked well for our family, even if it's sometimes a bit tiring. Also, i do quite like sitting down, and don't like drawn-out arguments with my very stubborn son, so probably wouldn't be great at keeping to a reasonable TV level the way plenty of my friends do! He's managed hours of despair because we can only handle up to 15 or so repetitions of the wheels on the bus song per car trip, I dread how he would feel about Peppa and the crew.

However, with a new baby due in the next couple of months, I've started wondering if this is really sustainable, with a giant tv sitting temptingly in the living room. Do any of you have any success stories or tips and tricks for managing long bfing sessions or general exhaustion while entertaining a very active toddler? Or if it didn't work for you, suggestions for introducing tv in a balanced way?

(Obviously there are plenty of parents in the past and around the world today who have no choice but to raise their kids tv free, so totally realise that this is a first world kind of problem ... But given the chance, would all those Victorian housewives have been plugging in some Dora and telling me to stop being so pfb? I'm suspecting maybe so)

also - I want to add a really really key point - yes people used to manage without telly while bringing up kids - but they had community support! before the industrial revolution people brought up kids in large communities - mum/ granny / uncle whatever, all next door to each otehr

until 30 years ago - less even - children from age 3 or 4 were out in the streets playin with each other while mum cooked dinner - or older children looked after them

this whole idea of playing with your child relentlessly for the whole day is just total modern bollocks and bears no relation to how humans evolved to live.

so - telly is unfortunately a by product of the loss of other aspects of life - btu that is not a bad thing - use it wisely and use it cheerfully!

TV under 2 is more mesmerising than educational. They watch it because shapes move about and sounds are made. Pointless really as they can get that from real life.

If you are using it for quiet time for yourself, fair enough, but that's all it is.

Using a tablet like a book together is interactive and works, but moving screens are just that.

Music is always good though.

Thanks all, it's great to hear so many points and balance! I'm not violently anti screen and especially not as they get older, I think that where I've got nervous is seeing some of my nieces and nephews glued to their screens from 18 months when the new baby arrives, and not being the strictest mum myself, imagining that we'd end up the same way.

It sounds like we'll keep going for now, and then a scheduled tv time slot sounds great - especially right before dinner, which can sometimes be tricky enough with just one hungry and tired child!