I don't get your defense that only interaction can happen from 7am-3pm and saying homeschool kids are unable to do that. Your examples of interaction during a school day are talking in the halls or eating lunch. Homeschool kids eat lunch. They also have breaks in between subjects (i.e. hallway time). They can interact via phone, text, email, personal contact with other individuals, etc. during those same time frames. I don't think all of life's lessons are being learned in the 5-minute walk between class and 25-30 minutes for lunch. If your position is that the great, grandiose interaction of chit chatting in the hallway between classes is the key to academic, social, and lifelong personal success then maybe public schools should reverse their schedules. Teach math for 5 minutes, then let the kids wander the hallways for 50 minutes to interact, then teach science for 5 minutes before letting the kids loose for another 50 minute hallway session.
All I was trying to say is that 99.99% of homeschool kids are not locked away in a basement dungeon all day long. And that talking to their peers about their pimples, which boy/girl likes them, what video they saw on Tick Tock, or any other useless banter in the hallway is an effective form of interaction is comical.
Homeschool kids are not cheated out of anything by not going to public schools. They do just as well, if not better in college. Same thing for careers after college. To each their own.