How does this paper explain cities being more accepting to differences than homogeneous smaller communities? Also not one mention of social media engagement algorithms?
I definitely wouldn't call the use of social media to be social interactions in the traditional sense. Social media's main ability seems to be to connect you to like-minded people, not exposure to different ideas.
How do these papers not even discuss what is transmitted rather than the how. There are clear examples in history when polarization occurs without accelerated cultural interactions. There are other parameters for polarization, yet the central aspect are the sequences sent, not the illusion that they are "social" in nature- they are cultural.