Pop icon Britney Spears recently looked back at her childhood and compared it with kids growing up today. The 39-year-old singer took to Instagram today and reflected her hopes that “children realize there is way more to life than technology.” “Nowadays I feel like kids are very protected … there are crazy people out there … but there is a sense of loss and curiosity in children’s eyes cause everything is technology-driven,” she explained.

Spears commenced her lengthy post by recalling visits to her cousins’ ranch as a young girl, where she and her cousins would play outside and let their imaginations run wild. “If you lived on a ranch in the south growing up … which I never did … most kids play outside !!!! My cousins lived on a ranch and we would usually play outside but of course we always found our way back inside to build playhouses or playhouse for hours with our dolls !!!!” the Toxic singer wrote.

Although she was born in Mississippi, Britney was raised in her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana with her older brother Bryan and little sister Jamie and their parents, Lynne and Jamie. She continued: “I feel like our parents let us roam more freely when we played outside because we all knew each other and it was such a safe area. The whole neighbourhood would hang out at my house … sit on the bar stools lined up playing video games … and most of them were in high school when I was a little and I was always begging for their attention because I didn’t know how to play video games!!!”