"According to Don Ambrose, a Rider University professor who studies creative intelligence, incubation is most effective when it involves exposing the mind to entirely novel information rather than just relieving mental pressure. This encourages creative association, the mashing together of seemingly unrelated concepts – a key step in the creative process.... A random scrap of information can trigger just the right conceptual collision. It's hard to know which scrap might do the trick, but that's the beauty of social networks – they constantly produce potential sparks, for free."
-Wired's Brendan Koerner tries to convince you that you are not wasting your time when you mess around on Facebook and Twitter. Or The Awl, for that matter!