I live in very rural America, outside of cell coverage and the neighbors turn up all the time to talk. And these are good conversations. There has never been spam or sales or the like that has turned up at my door.
Meanwhile the land line gets about 2 spam messages a day, and 1 real call a month. And being the owner of an LLC seems to mean my cell gets about 5 spam calls a day. The ringers stay off, and I still hate the phone.
When he says "Not too long ago" he is talking 20 years ago, not 200.
That very much differs with social class and location. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visiting_card for the elaborate social conventions which developed amongst the European and American aristocracy regarding visits to the home.