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 …

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 …

Can California Bring Everyone up to Internet Speed?

Broadband Is a Must for 21st-Century Life, and the Golden State Is Uniquely Poised to Tackle Its Digital Divide

Imagine you’re a senior citizen in the midst of the pandemic. You don’t know how to book a vaccine online, so you’ve been on hold for hours. Or imagine you’re …

Pet Voice Isn’t All About the LOLZ | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Pet Voice Isn’t All About the LOLZ

The Communication Tactic Dates Back Centuries. But the Act of Anthropomorphizing Our Furry Friends Has Become More Insidious in the Digital Age

Whether you love or hate people speaking as their pets, using cutesy terms like “pupperinos” and “heckin’ good bois,” or sharing grammatically incorrect cat speak memes, the concept of a …

How Rural Schools Survived the Pandemic | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

How Rural Schools Survived the Pandemic

Educators in the Most Remote Parts of the State Have Faced Unique Challenges—And Found Some Silver Linings

In my 15 years researching and working in K–12 education, I haven’t seen anything like the COVID-19 pandemic disruption to education. This is especially true in rural areas, whose remote …

Where I Go: My Small, Queer Corner of the Internet | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where I Go: My Small, Queer Corner of the Internet

After Years of Searching for an LGBTQ Community, I Found it on Discord During the Pandemic

I remember Ángelo Ponce. He was a teenage boy in my hometown of Maracay, Venezuela, whose classmates set on fire for being gay. That was 2012. I was 21 at …