Kids Today: How the Times Have Changed

09/02/2015 11:30 GMT | Updated 07/04/2015 10:59 BST

I am aware that I sound like my grandmother - talking about how things were better back in my day. But I do believe that today's generation of kids are missing out on some important parts of life that my generation took for granted when we were younger.

The main thing, I think, is the simplicity. When I was younger, I spent my time growing up limited to four channels (we didn't get channel 5). TV was pretty limited compared to what kids get nowadays, with hundreds of channels available. All I remember is catching the occasional half-decent TV show, and the rest of it was either news or sport. I do remember watching the Simpsons, followed by The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, followed by Emmerdale (those were good times). But that took up just 90 minutes, and it was the highlight of my day, TV - wise - I couldn't just turn on the TV and watch what I wanted, at all.

And I think that made me appreciate what I did watch, a lot more. TV was a treat. The rest of the time, I would read, or just study (I was such a nerd I had extra-curricular study books I'd complete in my free time for fun). But books were a staple, for me, back then - not the electronic version, either. Real books. With pages, and everything. I'd also go outside. The place that Tumblr has labelled "the outernet".

Which leads me onto the Internet. Back in my day (uh-oh, entering Grandma mode) we had dial-up internet. I remember I would turn on the family computer and go and make a cup of tea while I waited for it to whirr into life. Then I would sit while the router connected to the internet, making a racket with all its beeping as it did so. Then, when it was done, I would have to sit and watch every page on the web load - very different from the way we're able to zip through web pages now. But that made me appreciate each web page - someone had taken the time to create this page, and thanks to technology, I could use their ideas, advice or entertainment myself.

I didn't even know what social networking was. I remember I was in a café in a little village with my family, once, and this group of 20-somethings were at a table, snapping photographs. One of them said, "I'll pop these on Facebook later." Face-what? A book of faces? What? Nowadays, my whole family is on Facebook, and the web has become essential if we want to keep in touch. But I miss the days where I'd just sit on the sofa with my family, listening to music, or going on a weekend walk with them.

I miss the simplicity of life before the internet. What with YouTube creating stars such as Zoella, PewDiePie and Jenna Marbles, we can feel like we have a friend online that we can just click onto and watch, whatever the time of day or night. But there are also real people out there that we can talk to - today's generation spends so much time glued to a machine instead of heading out into the real world, and that makes me sad.

I used to have allocated family-laptop time, and when I got a laptop of my own, it didn't have internet. Now, people can access and create a wealth of information at just the click of a button. And while this is convenient, entertaining and empowering - and, don't get me wrong, I embrace it just as much as everyone else, I'm only 21 after all - I miss the times when I'd mess around on Paint and Movie Maker for fun before going downstairs to watch the Simpsons, then reading a book before going to bed.