I think you are over-thinking this.

The concern with screen time is not that it is actively harmful, but it takes children away from other things which would be more beneficial, including physical exercise, interaction with people, and learning to manipulate stuff in the real world. Under 2 years the (very limited) evidence is that children can't really understand or learn from what is happening on the screen, so screen time is basically dead time as far as mental development is concerned.

However 2 years is a guideline, not a hard limit, and children vary. Your son sees you using devices and wants to emulate you, which is actually something to encourage. The big differentiator seems to be parental interaction, so stuff you do together that involves a screen is probably just as good as stuff you do together without a screen.

There is an article here by the American Psychological Association which summarises what we know about this (or at least, what we knew a year ago; research is ongoing).

I think you are over-thinking this.

The concern with screen time is not that it is actively harmful, but it takes children away from other things which would be more beneficial, including physical exercise, interaction with people, and learning to manipulate stuff in the real world. Under 2 years the (very limited) evidence is that children can't really understand or learn from what is happening on the screen, so screen time is basically dead time as far as mental development is concerned.

However 2 years is a guideline, not a hard limit, and children vary. Your son sees you using devices and wants to emulate you, which is actually something to encourage. The big differentiator seems to be parental interaction, so stuff you do together that involves a screen is probably just as good as stuff you do together without a screen.

There is an article here by the American Psychological Association which summarises what we know about this (or at least, what we knew a year ago; research is ongoing).