That said, there is one thing to embrace Torah im Derekh Eretz when secular culture embodies much derekh eretz. When higher culture has little influence in daily life, when far more of the surrounding civilization’s culture is crass or outright assur than thoughtful, ennobling and humanizing, it becomes a much harder argument to make.
As I wrote earlier… “Modern Orthodoxy” was the historically mainstream approach to living a Torah lifestyle; the isolation and backwardness of the shtetl was a sad aberation forced upon us. But that doesn’t mean it’s the more correct response to today’s world.
Frankly, I think neither response is correct. Deciding in advance that everything modern is something we are capable of sanctifying through Torah, or that everything modern is dangerous and needs avoiding are both false. You need to know the person, the change to the world in question, and come up with thoughtful, case-wise, answers for each. But that’s just my own worldview.