The research making up this theme is drawn together by a common desire to critically examine the ways technology entangles with social life. The diverse research spans different walks of life, from studies of online harms, to the labours behind technology’s proliferation, to multi-species abundance, to new forms of participation in public and political life. Across these works, our driving motivation is to shape alternative presents and futures—presents and futures that never give up on the possibility of collective good and mutual flourishing.