Discouraging surveys and a semi-illiterate president notwithstanding, reports of the death of reading are exaggerated.
social media
Posted inPolitics
How Local News Reduces Loneliness
One more reason rebuilding local news is vital. Academic research suggests that whether it’s an obituary, a puff piece, or news of a sale on tuna at the grocery, local news makes us feel less alone.
Posted inNovember/December 2025
Draining the Online Swamp
Instead of accepting the existing digital political battlefield as inevitable, Democrats should challenge it as a root cause of our dysfunctional politics, and vow to be the party that cleans it up.
Posted inBooks
How the Digital Age Changed Us
Two new books on high tech and social media examine the toll of relentless shopping, engagement, and the tyranny of the “like” button.
Posted inBooks
The Doomscroll Generation
Social media and smartphones have tipped an entire generation into anxiety and depression. Is there anything to be done?
Posted inPolitics
“You Always Have to be Careful About Censorship”
Internet platforms have enjoyed a legal status that exempts them from legal liability for their content. Tech giants such as Google, Meta, and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, have been under this umbrella thanks to the Communications Decency Act of 1996, specifically its Section 230, establishing that companies cannot be treated as the publisher of the […]
Posted inJanuary/February/March 2022
How Buster Keaton Became a Digital Meme
The great silent film actor-director invented much of the language of cinema. It still speaks to us on our cell phones.
Posted inFeatured, Political Animal, Politics
Mark Zuckerberg’s “Oppenheimer Moment”
Social media platforms are becoming an increasingly dangerous place for teens. Will its leaders do anything about it?
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
It Turns Out That Deplatforming Works
But the public needs more power over social media.
Posted inPolitical Animal
When A Lie Gets Too Big
The Capitol insurrection and Donald Trump’s incitement are testing the limits of free speech
