I recently moved from a city to a small town (<5000 population). The first thing I noticed is that the kids are all playing outside. No "devices" in sight. When they want to see if a friend is home, they go knock on the door and ask whoever answers the door if they are allowed to play.
I've never seen this in any of the cities I've lived in.
Parents sit on their front step and passively watch their kids while talking to the neighbours. Frequently, "adult beverages" will be brought out and shared.
When COVID demanded lock down ... the kids worked out a way to still play outside without too much physical interaction. Even in the winter, the kids are out building snow forts and tobogganing down snowbanks.
My neighbours frequently bring "extra" baked goods over - chat for 5 minutes, then head away. On a nice sunny day, walking down the street to get the mail is occasionally a 1 hour event if you stop to say hi to everyone who's out in their yard.
I'm not sure it's really about being wired in ... versus being in an environment where the parents feel absolutely safe letting their kids run around outside. This forms a bond between the parents as well. If my kids going to play with your kids for hours in my back yard, do you feel comfortable that I'm going to comfort your child if they get hurt, feed your child if they get hungry etc etc.
If I walk out of my house, looking right or left, I can name the adults and children of the first 3 houses on either side of the street in both directions. When I lived in an apartment, I rarely knew the names of the neighbours that lived directly across the hall.
This, obviously was a choice I made ... but I didn't make it on purpose ... or did I?
I grew up in this town :) But I am old and from the country.
I am guessing you are US-based. In Finland, it is very, very safe - yet many people still tend to almost encourage the screens, even though they also say "not too much screen time". Not everyone though. Our neighborhood tends to have a lot of kids wandering around in groups getting up to kid mischief.
This is a funny thing. Again, Finns aren't generally very social, so I am seen as weird, but excused as I am Australian. I tend to talk to the neighbors too, even when we don't speak the same language well together. I like the idea of local communities of people knowing each other. Having a BBQ and inviting the neighbors over the fence for a burger. makes life richer.
Has it all been a good culture shock?
To be clear, I grew up in a small town (<1000) then moved to the cities for University and Career. Growing up was just like I described. I had to walk 1.5km to get to school, starting around grade 2, but I knew the families that lived in every other house on the way. I'm glad to get back to the smaller town - it feels a lot more like "home".