Engagement is one of the core pieces education and one of the hardest things to solve. If you remember back to being a kid, reading white papers is not really a thing. Interesting (e.g. engaging) teachers and field trips (which not all schools have access to) are tools that help kids learn.

At the limit, if you could stay engaged you would be an expert in pretty much anything.

"It doesn't help students understand why things happened, and what the consequences were and how they have impacted the rest of history of the modern world." I would say the opposite, let's recreate each step in that historical journey so you can see exactly what the concequenses were, exactly why they happened and when.

Or maybe the constant detachment from reality that this technology and social media provide will only make it seem like they're more engaged when in fact they're mentally retreating from the physical world.

Inhabiting a foreign cultural context can provide information that factual lessons may struggle to convey to the same degree. Of course, there's a limit to this - especially with regards to historical accuracy - but you are much more likely to understand why specific historical decisions were made if you are "in the room" where they happened, so to speak.