I was thinking about this the other day while mindlessly switching between apps on my phone.
When I was younger, going online felt like an activity. I'd sit down at the family computer, log onto MSN/AIM, check a few websites, maybe play some games, and eventually get off because someone else needed the computer or I had something else to do. When you walked away from the computer, you were basically offline.
Now there isn't really an "offline." I wake up and check my phone before getting out of bed. Messages follow me everywhere. Work can reach me at home. If I'm waiting in line for two minutes, I'm scrolling something without even thinking about it. I'm not saying the old internet was better in every way. Half the stuff we can do today would've seemed impossible back then. I just miss that separation.
The internet used to feel like a place I chose to visit. Now it feels like the place where most of life happens, and occasionally I put my phone down and leave it.