BS”D
That is a very long schoolday – are you exaggerating or is that the way it is now?
At one time, the boundaries between us and them were very strict and no one wanted to be like the drunken peasant or the illiterate Arab who surrounded us in the lands we left for America or Western Europe or E”Y.
Now, the culture of the drunken peasant (which I am still zoiche to see here in Ukraine and will not miss when I leave soon for E”Y LOL) is varnished with glitz and even education, but the culture of the Wall Street parties with cocaine and gilui arayois, or the frat party of college infamy, or the tailgate party, is really nothing different than the celebrations of the drunken peasant or Cossack. However, it takes a lot of strength and exposure to Torah to be able to see through the veneer of fun, enjoyment and being “with it” and to realize that secular culture is just as low as it always was and just as far away from the way we should live as it always has been.
Also, this culture is not off limits to Jews as its equivalent was in times of old – but it is just as inimical to Jewish values now as it was then.
Therefore, some communities may have become a bit more restrictive and isolated lately – but at the same time even these communities embrace technology and other positive elements of general society.