Were you alive before the Internet?
Life used to be, if anything, more political.
Earlier in the 20th century, there were a lot more (local) newspapers and they all had very pointed points of view. Radio stations tended to be independent and if they had news broadcasts, it would be hyper-local and often political. Hell, thriving union membership gave us the greatest prosperity this country has seen and unions are very political.
In the first half of the 20th century we even had such a healthy, political society that more than two parties were often deemed viable.
In the 19th century the arguments for papers still hold. And voter turnout was much higher[1], albeit more male and more white.
[1] https://historyincharts.com/the-history-of-voter-turnout-in-...
