© AlamyResearch, carried out by polling group YouGov, shows a country more 'atomised' than ever
The research, which examined social attitudes today compared to those of the early 1980s shows a country more 'atomised' than ever.
It also contained a warning for couples that parenthood will reduce their circle of friends.
Despite many people having hundreds of friends on Facebook and similar internet sites, true friendships can be counted on the fingers of one hand, the study found.
We are also more likely to consider our neighbours as pests and less likely to know them well speak often or lend a hand.
Common complaints include noise, anti-social behaviour, nuisance children and pets and unkempt trees and bushes.
The study, carried out by polling group YouGov, imitated many of the questions asked by a similar poll three decades ago.
Now three out of four of us are prepared to admit to feeling lonely, compared to less than one in three then.
On average we have just 5 friends, a fall of half a friend from 1982.
Ed Mayo, secretary general of Co-operatives UK, which commissioned the study, said many people had lost the 'bedrock of the garden fence' which they would have relied on in a crisis.
He blamed changes to families and working lives for pushing people apart.
'It's not a completely bleak picture, but it is quite clear that neighbourliness has declined significantly over nearly 30 years,' he said.
'There are fewer friends, more loneliness, less contact with people around you unless you are proactive and go out to engage with people. 'There is not that bedrock of the garden fence to fall back on.
'People seem to have a wider circle of acquaintances and shallow friendships, particularly on-line, which cuts down the number to whom they feel really close.'
Worryingly, one in two Britons said they knew more about the daily lives of their favourite celebrity than they do their neighbour.
Twice as many people said they had problems with their neighbours and twice as many declared themselves 'never neighbours' - who would not call round next door.
Our ease with strangers has also declined markedly, from eight out of ten saying they found it easy to speak to strangers, to two out of ten today.
Pollsters developed a 'Good Neighbour Index' by dividing the number of people helping their neighbours by those giving them problems.
The score shows the value of neighbourliness has halved.
In 1982, most would speak to their neighbours at least once a day, and knew the names of six more neighbours than they do today.
People in Wales were found to be the most neighbourly - with half speaking to their neighbours every day.
'You never know what you've got until it's gone.'
Before temptation can play its part, other actors have to take to the stage such as hunger, thirst and greed. Mix them all together and we call it civilization, which rise and fall like loaves of bread at the bakery. It seems our 'loaves of plenty' have turned into the trampled grapes of wrath...
So did that story end happily ever after?