You may be partially right. A few hours after I posted the comment, I realized that the urban vs. rural difference is also a factor here (like kilnos described

You may be partially right. A few hours after I posted the comment, I realized that the urban vs. rural difference is also a factor here (like kilnos described in another comment). Before we had much larger concentrations of human population in cities, it seemed to me that people were a bit more than acquaintances even with neighbors. May not have been the thickest of friends, but were still around to connect with, gossip, reach out for some quick help, etc. I'm sure there were variations across geographies and cultures, but a "modern city life" has made many people more busy and stressed to form such connections and keep up.