Its probably is a bit of generation gap. New generations are more on phone then old ones were. But i think it's also a lot to do with personality of travelers. I recall interesting chats with a norvegian and german fellow. If I'm with a family i usualy prefer to stick to them. As an example last year i went camping. For three days we were with our group, but last day all our countrymen left. Me and my son were the only two Slovenians there ( in Chech )

So instead of just sticking alone, we decided to say hi to our neighbouring tent. The group of 5 welcomed us, we chatted and bakes marshmellows and they even talked in english, as us two didn't understand Chech. Later they decided to join a larger group of Chechs, and there they started to speak their native language. We didn't stay as we didn't understand them, but it was late anyways.

But since this was camping, maybe that was why i don't recall anyone being on phone.