It's different. The concept of block letters is too old, also called real books. Simplified characters only appeared after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC). I have always disagreed with what "traditional Chinese characters" are. Simplified characters first appeared, and the original characters were called traditional characters. Simplified characters are implemented in several batches, and finally they are all simplified characters. You can look for books published in the sixties and seventies, and sometimes you can find the popular word "reciting waste" at that time. You can also ask your parents. They know.
Simplified characters are helpful to citizens' literacy and education, but they also cause confusion in some aspects.