Some people here talk about conversations struck up waiting in the check-out line or at the DMV. I think that is the exception rather than the norm. Just the like bus, or airplane are other forced scenarios, but I think people who strike up a conversation are the exception and not the norm, and I would suspect that they have been down-trending for awhile.

What people call "tribalism" I would re-frame as class structuralism. People might segregate themselves by class via Whole Foods vs Walmart, but that doesn't mean people are striking up conversations within-class or between-classes. That doesn't seem very "tribal" versus what American Christians have; rather it seems loosely coherent.

And again, I would ask whether a commercial space is really the best place going forward. I am struck by the number of places a young person wouldn't feel like going without a credit card.

Your comment is spot on.

Being in line at the DMV is probably the best example I can think of this.

I'm usually waiting for a while, and chatting with whomever is next to me. Not unusual to be an interesting conversation with someone I'd have never otherwise spoken to (and probably vice versa).