

I’d argue the modern isolation is absolutely purposeful. Social media can be both a great tool to connect with people and one to isolate them. And with social media algorithms largely biasing towards hateful content since that keeps engagement high. Once a person is isolated they can be feed more hateful content without them even realizing how they are spiraling.
Oh we have been trying to influence people to act or vote or do something a certain way for literally thousands of years. Roman society broke down because of how divided things became at certain points.