Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
    • Reason TV
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • Just Asking Questions
    • Free Media
    • The Reason Interview
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Print Subscription
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Apps

Clubhouse

The voice-only app's rooms range from innocuous to substantive to deliberately inflammatory.

Liz Wolfe | From the June 2021 issue

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
MINISCLUBHOUSE | Clubhouse
(Clubhouse)

Clubhouse, a voice-only chatroom app, keeps no permanent record of what is said there. Its rooms range from innocuous to substantive to deliberately inflammatory. At its best, it's like being at a lively dinner party—the sort that were common in the Before Times.

Though its critics say otherwise, it's wrong to think of Clubhouse as just a contrarian playground for the tech-adjacent. I've used it to understand everything from Beijing's expulsion of foreign journalists to anti-vaccination attitudes among the French, from the Torah's views on proselytizing to how to host better actual dinner parties.

The intimacy of hearing people's voices often leads to a culture of civility not found on Twitter. The fact that it all happens in real time makes it raw and unfiltered. And the conversations themselves remain—for now—thrillingly unregulated, unrecorded, and unfettered.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: In & Of Itself

Liz Wolfe is an associate editor at Reason.

AppsSocial MediaTechnology
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Show Comments (14)

Latest

Trump Erroneously Thinks Killing Suspected Smugglers Is the Key to Winning the Drug War

Jacob Sullum | 10.17.2025 4:00 PM

Federal Judge in Chicago Demands Body Cams for Immigration Agents Amid Brutality Claims

Autumn Billings | 10.17.2025 1:31 PM

Empower Stays on D.C. Streets as Appeals Court Weighs Future of Rideshare Company

Jack Nicastro | 10.17.2025 1:15 PM

How Josh Hawley Is Empowering Unions in New York and California

Eric Boehm | 10.17.2025 1:00 PM

Woman Acquitted of Assaulting FBI Agent After 3 Grand Juries Declined To Indict

Joe Lancaster | 10.17.2025 12:45 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2025 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300