What makes you think that without phone kids would do talking instead of gazzilion of other activities? Also I am sure having access to iPad helped my daughter to learn way more than I thought she could at that age (e. g. English names for colors; count in English and the alphabet song — before she even was three). Just to clarify — we do not speak English at home.

I had no phone or computer. Most of my time was spent in books. (Not bad for the vocabulary, I guess).