Concrete goal: play outside for 2 hours a day, and for at least 1 hour a day when inside, do something that does not involve an electronic device. There, concrete goal delivered. As for your second point, there's this thing called parenting that helps young children achieve something that's difficult for them.

Yeah, completely reasonable to (rather than actually be a parent and tell your kid to put down the iPad and take it away if he doesn't) ban all electronics for everyone, just because you can't tell your kid to do something he doesn't want to do, because you don't want to deal with his crying/screaming or whatever.

No, it really isn't all that different. In both circumstances, it's a refusal to parent, or a wish to return to a "simpler" life. I grew up in the 80s, we had a TV, an NES, and a computer. I couldn't touch any of them until I had done my chores, played outside (weather permitting), read some books, and done some homework or extracurricular activity. Even then, my time on each was strictly limited. However, I still learned enough on the computer to help me even today.

It's not a refusal to admit that life can be lived without. See, if the parents had no kids, and decided to do without because they were nostalgic, or wanted to rough it for a while, that I could understand. However, their goal is get their kids to stop spending so much time on the electronics. Giving up electronics for a year because they can't tell their kids not to do that (especially the 2 year old, wth...) and take the devices away is a failure in parenting, not some noble goal to unplug and live life unconnected for a while. It's a matter of intention. They want their kids to spend time outside away from electronics, and instead of taking their kids out and "forgetting" the electronics at home, they give up ALL electronics. It's extremism, plain and simple.

Except...not really. What is this actually teaching those kids? That it's important to avoid technology? That it's important to avoid problems instead of learning to deal with them? It's avoiding the problem, the problem being their addiction to tech. You don't learn moderation for anything by avoiding it completely in all forms for an arbitrary amount of time. Which brings me to another point: the negatives of this method of "teaching". At 5, what you learn in a year is immensely more than what you learn in a year at 10, or 15, or even 6. This kid is losing the chance to learn about technology, something that will likely play a huge role in his future life, for 20% of his total lifespan. It is completely possible to go outside while having tech in your life. All it takes is parenting, which these 2 fail at completely.

Reading this reminds me I need to mentally thank my parents every day that they weren't idiots. My brothers and I had an NES growing up, and we couldn't touch it until our parents said we could. We had to play outside, do chores, and do some homework/reading, and our parents then let us play a metered amount of games. We also had a computer when I was 4, which I credit with my familiarity with Unix/Linux file systems, which (surprise) helps tremendously with my current job. We also couldn't touch THAT without their permission. See, my parents didn't substitute avoidance for parenting. They taught me how to deal with technology, and they gave me the tools I needed to help me in school and in work. These parents, all they're doing is taking away 1 year of important development, especially for the 5 year old. At 2, whatever, but at 5, what that kid learns is going to stick with him for the rest of his life, and taking away tech for a year and then reintroducing it is worse than leaving him the tech and teaching him how to use it sparingly, properly, and in moderation. He could be learning to code, or learning self-control. Tech is not going away. It will likely play a huge part of his later schooling and eventual career, and he could be learning an important skill that will help him the rest of his life. Instead, he's learning that it's better to avoid something than learn how to deal with it properly, and he will probably binge on tech once he gets it back in his life. Avoidance is not a substitute from parenting, but it seems like most Americans don't get that, what with the no-sex-ed in school.