That this translates to Twitter being used most and probably best in the service of nonsense and amusement isn’t surprising, and it certainly isn’t a knock on Twitter—amusing nonsese is a lot of what our actual friends provide, for one thing, and contra the puckery Jonathan Franzen types there isn’t really an actual conflict between 138 goofy characters and 1,380 well-considered words or 380 well-written pages; we will not see Twitter replace the novel, or whatever, at least among people who might actually read a novel. Twitter feels like, and is made of, people. This can be why it’s unbearable, when it’s unbearable. It is also why it can be great. People are like that, after all.