I hear what you are saying and I do believe it is by design, If not by design, then by taking advantage of a system in which our society works. We can see this with things like, where choices are required to be made and only two options to choose from. I would use the last US elections to show that. That either of the main characters making it to position the end result is the same, the choice given is which method to use. A vote does not seem to matter. Our education does not stop when schooling starts and it is the same for the same in society. Groups are made to fight for equality of a specific thing creating a divide even within the want for equality.
For the internet, I think it creates a distance comfortable for some and a distance too far for others, It can be used as a means to reach out to others and share your views. It can also be the opposite where it is like talking to a machine and there is no personal connection. There is all the different combination and variation between those two. The Social conscious needs to change is some important ways.
We react to certain situations as we are not taught in schooling to think the things through, we are fact receivers and what we hear has to be the truth. When we hear things initially we have a line of thought that follows. The same thoughts if looked at later can be sen in a different manner. We need to begin to teach our young to think and to think about the future actions they have options to choose from. The first reaction is not always the only one.