Even so, we notice that too much video (more than 40m-1h in one session) makes at least one of our kids pretty cranky. So, we might consider the time limit feature.
To keep them off the screen, we just have lots of clay, crayons, scissors, construction paper, tape, legos, books, puzzles, etc. And playground visits.
We often find that by the end of the day on the weekend, if it was one of those days where they watched a little more video than less, they complain that there was still [some craft project thing] that they wanted to do. So, providing a bit of structure to limit screen time ultimately is letting them get to do other things that they really want to do.
I guess it varies by the kid, but neither of my kids seem able to stay stuck on the same mind-numbing task for long and they naturally progress to wanting to do more interactive stuff anyway. I think placing artificial limits instead provides a temptation to use their "quota" and makes the activity seem like a treat they have to use instead of just a normal part of life.