Doesn't that also depend on the age? As a European visiting the US, I always found it amazing that so many mostly older random stranger just start conversations

Doesn't that also depend on the age? As a European visiting the US, I always found it amazing that so many mostly older random stranger just start conversations everywhere. Something almost no one would do in my home country. But I also noticed that younger people (especially twens) wouldn't do this and appeared to be very shy, avoiding any unneeded conversation. It was like that even before Covid.