One thing I noticed long ago about the boomer generation is they are likely to make small talk with random strangers in public (store clerk, waiter, etc) without much hesitation. They knew their neighbors.

People today are more closed, I think they’d be less likely to do that, even as they get into middle age and past the insecurities of youth.

Sex/drugs/rock-n-roll probably got a segment of the population out of its shell that otherwise wouldn’t.