NPCs are not soulless automatons

NPCs are egregore-controlled humans, they still have an independent mind but their mind is enslaved and used as a tool for expressing the egregore mind, like a two-way radio channel.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egregore
Its possible to disrupt the link to egregore by subversive thought insertion(aka memes), allowing the original mind to assert its will and independent thought. The egregore can't focus on multiple mental challenges simultaneously and the "radio channel" has limited capacity.
NPCs can be reformed to PCs.

The NPC sentiment is that "NPCs are programmed by the mainstream media", as if the media is able to send commands into their brain. That would mean some sort of deliberate hypnotic suggestion and requires constructing the media programs around hypnosis - something that would readily apparent in analysis.

A more plausible explanation is brain damage from an environmental factor: xenoestrogens,microplastics, stress and microwave radiation(cellphones/wifi) impairing specific cognitive circuits(lesions, cell death) so they can't discriminate own thoughts from processing of incoming/absorbed information.
That means any media will program NPCs: any text,video,book, etc will act as hypnotic suggestions. This also explains why not all urbanites are NPCs, brain damage is going to be random and some circuits are more important for cognition, others are able to adapt with neuroplasticity replacing lost circuits.
Also it explains why NPCs are localized to our current time period.