Our issue is that we currently live in a small apartment in an urban part of a relatively large city. We have no backyard and have to live with regulations about kids playing on the premises (with balls, scooters, bikes, or making noise generally). My kids can't go to the local park by themselves without fear of someone calling CPS on me, and they can't play on the street because of traffic. Yes, there are tons of things to do in San Diego, but most everything requires my direction (or, at least, participation at this point), shuttling the kids from one activity or playdate to the next. It is exhausting, and mama needs her breaks too.
Yes, the kids play board games and do puzzles, play Lego and imaginary games, color, read for pleasure, etc., but, as homeschoolers, they also have a lot more free time than their public school counterparts. School takes about 3 hours, extracurriculars and non-screen activities take up several more hours. But yeah, there is also screen time. And really, given our living circumstances, I am at a loss as to what else they are supposed to do with their day? We don't live on a farm, we don't have animals, they are too young to really do chores, we don't have a playroom/homeschool room/tinkering space, and kids playing out of doors is a basically nonexistent concept in our neighborhood.