It is a paradox. You can't get out of civilisation. You simply can't. There is no gap, it is rather a mutual condition. The gap is purely mental. The off-grid person can only go off the grid because the employee goes to work so that the products that are needed as a self-supporter can be mass-produced through external supply (solar technology, batteries, etc.). So the city dweller/worker supplies the so-called dropout. Those who cannot or do not want to do it themselves support those who want to. But those who want to are dependent on the fact that there are those who do not want to or cannot.
So I would say that there is no one who is faster or slower, but a field within which things are mutually dependent. One does not work without the other. Neither is therefore superior/inferior to the other, but simply a fact of difference and contrast.
Since I am one of those who in all probability will not go off the grid, nothing needs to be done for me. I help myself. But in other ways, of which there are plenty ;)