[s1artibartfast]

Life being short, difficult, and full of unpleasantness is tangential to the question if human interaction was different in much smaller exposure.

You dont even have to go that far into the past, you can simply talk to anyone who lived prior to the internet.

pick something like skateboarding. The best skateboarder in 100 kids could shock and impress peers with tricks they had never seen.

Pick a given subject, the best expert someone would be exposed to was very limited.