How can I foster authentic student dialogue?

I will admit that with out clear sets of protocols or systems like Socratic Seminar, fostering student dialogue has mostly been hit or miss. I feel, though (and maybe I'm just waxing nostalgic) that it uwed to be better, that over time, during open discussion on class content or current events, kids from across the spectrum of learning styles and abilities could feel comfortable speaking in my classroom, and while it seemed like it was getting more difficult in the mid-2010s, it all but froze during COVID. If conversation is structured and students have had the chance to both submit to and respond to actual prompts, discussion (and eventually conversation) can happen. That's nice, but no one is willing to share in straight-up blanket classroom cold calling, and students know they can wait out a frustrated teacher who can't stand the silence. How do I make the classroom more inviting and comfortable for a student to simply ask an off-current-topic but defintely pertanent to social studies question? As a Civics educator, I am gravely concerned with their ability to "shoot the bull" and just talk about something with a group that isn;t their safe group of friends.