Pakistan, Jan. 14 -- Digital platforms are the new public spaces, functioning as modern versions of public houses; however, they lack many of the foundational principles that defined public houses in twentieth-century America and elsewhere in the world. Public houses embodied freedom of entry, speech, and social presence-people could sit, read, eat, drink, and converse freely.

Entry was open to anyone who could afford even a minimal expense. Now, such public houses can be seen in the movies, only where people used to enter freely, gossiped, drank and enjoyed public gatherings. These spaces functioned as individual as well as collective trend builders by serving as the cultural exhibitions of one's land and people, and ultimately homogeni...