How to drag a content of a layer quick even if it's mostly empty

Hello everyone, this is probably a very easy question, but I can't figure out how to search it on google because it's not very short to explain.
I was using photoshop CS5, but recently I upgraded to the 2021 version, and it's great, but has a few differences that annoy me (until I get used to them, of course).
The specific issue I'm talking about is this: in CS5, when i wanted to move the contenct of a layer around, I just had to select the selection tool, then CTRL, click ANYWHERE on the canvas and drag the whole content around.
In the 2021 version, you have to click on a part of the canvas that is not empty, otherwise it just ignore the fact that you have that layer selected and just selects the layer of the first thing you touch and move the content of THAT layer around.
I know that there are many ways to do it slowly, but the CTRL+drag thing is in my muscle memory, and every time it doesn't work just drives me insane.

Any help please? Thank you