According to the article: A "frictionless economy" was emerging with promises to make our lives easier in part by removing the biggest friction in our lives: other people.

I know what you mean, but I'm not sure I see the irony. "Rough area" and suburbs don't have exact meanings, but in my experience, for what I think is being described as rough areas, interacting with other people, including new people, is seen as good, important, even necessary, and not as "friction". In nicer suburbs, interactions with new people may be rarer & more transactional.

How you treat someone you don't regularly interact with is an extension of this.