your formative experience with technology was via touch screens

It’s not a matter of touch screens, but high resolution screens. The text of the “old” layout looks way too small for my taste on screens >1080p to the point that I struggle to see why people would actively go after instead of a layout that makes good use of white space.

Also, it’s not even like you’re making a better use of space when the right side of the screen is entirely empty.