What Is the Future of the Digital Public Square?

Five People Who Study and Write About Technology on Their Hopes for Online Community

The public square is the meeting ground where people make society happen. In these spaces, physical or metaphorical or digital, we work through our shared dramas and map our collective hopes. Ideally, the public square provides room to solve the problems we face. It is also where new, thorny issues often arise.

This “Up for Discussion” is part of Zócalo’s editorial and events series spotlighting the ideas, places, and questions that have shaped the public square Zócalo has created over the past 20 years.

Here, our contributors take on the virtual worlds where …

How Poland’s Opposition Won an Unfair Election

The Civic Coalition Is Proof That a Highly Motivated and Well-Organized Campaign Can Win—Even Against a Ruling Party That Cheats

On a blustery day in early October 2023, half a dozen volunteers stood outside a street market in Łódź, Poland’s fourth largest city, handing out flyers, stickers, and cherry cakes. …

Francis Barraud's 1898 black and white painting of the dog Nipper looking into an Edison Bell cylinder phonograph.

Her Voice Memos and My Grief

A Friend’s Digital Messages in a Bottle Carry on a Centuries-Long Tradition of Auditory Remembrance

One of my best friends died recently.

It still doesn’t feel real. The last time I saw her was the day after the Fourth of July. Her smile always lit up …

What Should We Do About Instagram
Colonialism?

Social Media Is Ruining Tourism Hot Spots Like Tulum—And Even If We Don’t Stop Traveling, We Can Stop Posting

This summer, a record-breaking, estimated 220 million U.S. tourists—85% of American adults—have been on the move. Many of them will head to Tulum, Mexico, which I also recently visited. Businesses …

Let the Kids “BeReal” on Social Media

Restricting Internet Use Is a Violation of Young People’s First Amendment Rights

My best friend’s 13-year-old son recently asked me to friend him on the social media app BeReal.

She had decided to let him download BeReal partially because it lets users post …

Social Media Won’t Kill the Whoopee Cushion

Today’s Pranks May Be Boosted by the Algorithm, But They’re Still Cultural Weapons for Both the Powerful and the Petty

The whoopee cushion, sure to be dusted off by pranksters young and old this April Fools’ Day, is among the most enduring pranks in human history. The gag was already …