Hostels aren't as gregarious as they used to be

This is the 3rd hostel/hostel-ish place at which I've stayed though I've let a private room at each. When I did roadtrips in my 20s I basically planned them as hops from hostel to hostel. At one in St. Louis I went to a blues bar with people. In Niagara falls there was an organized van trip to watch the sunset on the banks of lake Ontario.
Now people don't kibitz as much. I wonder why? (Finishes blog post on phone in common room full of wi-fi zombies on phones/laptops/ and tablets)