There might be something in what you just said Doug.
People used to be a lot less mobile.
They often lived and died within a few miles of their home, which was usually their family home for many generations.
Technology may have been slow, they might not have been as safe or secure and their society might have been very rigid.
However they did have a strong sense of place and community. Place, community and continuance were usually synonymous to them.
Those are things most of us no longer have.

Martin posted a couple of comments on the "Are you Connected" thread that give a different slant to this one too.