build a relationship with your neighbors

I don't know precisely when or why this stopped being something people just automatically did.

When I was child, everyone knew their neighbors. Even in a city, AT LEAST knew who was in the house on either side of you, and you spoke them every day, even if it was just 'Hello, Dave'.

Now, nobody knows anybody. When a new family moves in (or, more often than not, a childless couple), nobody introduces themselves. Nobody even learns eachother's names through any means other than mis-delivered mail.

A kind of social death has claimed everyone.