No, your criticism this entire time has been stemming from the fact that you can be standing on one tile and be on one continent, and then cross onto a tile directly next to it and be on a different continent. You think this is dumb, but my response is sarcasm because that's how it works in real life. It's only dumb if you think the idea of continents is fundamentally stupid in the first place. Yet they exist, so their fair game to be added in terms of representation in a game that draws from the entirety of earth's history, science, and culture.
This addition adds more depth to continental bonuses, not less. Tying the definition of what a continent is purely to landmass in civ has been the dumb call for the entirety of the series, not the other way around. With the old way, let's say in civ3 on an Earth Map, if you built a Pyramid in south africa. Hooray! you have a Granary in every city on your continent. This means all of the cities you build in Africa will get a granary, woo! Oh and also all of your cities in Europe, The middle east, SE Asia, and Greater Asia.
So congratulations. Because you ended up anywhere in the eastern world, you're on one "continent". Conversely, if your civilization happens to be part of an archipelago - well too bad, each island is it's own continent.
That is the system that doesn't make any sense.