Now what?

How would David Foster Wallace explain the Twitter phenomenon?

While reading Infinite Jest and Eating the Dinosaur, I stumbled upon two quotes that seem to do a pretty nice job of explaining why Twitter has become such a phenomenon… 

First up, David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest:

“you get to believe you’re receiving someone’s complete attention without having to return it.”

Then, on the train home today I came across this from Chuck Klosterman:

“Observing someone without context amplifies the experience.”

Both authors weren’t addressing Twitter specifically, but it’s hard not to see the parallels (Wallace was talking about the telephone and Klosterman was talking about the movie Vertigo). Also, ‘amplifies’ doesn’t always mean better, but I think it captures why people can become so caught up in seemingly meaningless babble from people you hardly know.  

ps: That tagline’s all yours if you want it Twitter.