I said I wouldn’t do it. Swore it repeatedly, actually. But about a month ago, I finally caved to conformity: I made my Twitter debut.

Since the website was introduced and gained popularity a few years ago, I have been vocally anti-Twitter, even in the face of peer pressure from social media loving friends. For years, I withstood being referred to as @twitterlessjamie and acted properly disgusted when yet another friend jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. My argument was always that Twitter is nothing more than a glorified Facebook status update website, and that it only encourages people to put yet more unprompted opinions out there for others to see. To make a long story short, I thought the whole thing was pretty stupid and unnecessary.

But as any of my fellow journalism majors can attest, Twitter is a pretty big deal in the journalism world. Professors constantly encourage us to follow the Northeastern School of Journalism on Twitter. Established journalists and news outlets tweet breaking news updates 24 hours a day. And, as an interviewer for a co-op job solemnly explained for a solid five minutes after I confessed my Twitter virginity, social media is an important part of writing and communicating in the digital age.

It was that awkward interview encounter that changed my mind. To my great chagrin, I went back on every anti-Twitter comment I’ve ever made, swallowed my pride and took the plunge. Now, a few weeks into my newest online venture, I still think it’s pretty stupid and unnecessary — but not in a bad way.

The thing is, not everything in life has to be weighty and important to be good. In fact, some of my favorite things — fashion magazines and stupid sitcoms, I’m looking at you — contribute very little to society, but that doesn’t mean I love them any less. Very few of the things posted on Twitter truly matter, and very few of them will stay on anyone’s mind for longer than it takes to scroll to the bottom of the page. But for the second a tweet makes someone laugh or smile, it’s done its job. Sometimes, I think, its good to do something that has no lasting impact or greater good attached to it. In my opinion, “because it’s fun,” is a 100 percent valid reason for deciding to do just about anything, and Twitter now falls under that umbrella for me.

The idea of doing things purely for fun doesn’t seem complicated, but I think it’s easy to forget. Especially at a school like Northeastern, where so much emphasis is put on career preparedness and employability, there’s a lot of pressure to constantly be productive. We are taught to constantly network, build resumes and think about the future, and with the time crunch brought on by co-op, most of us have little room in our schedules for electives or just-for-kicks classes. The idea of doing things on a whim can become borderline blasphemous if we’re not careful.

This productivity has its place, of course. I think I speak for everyone when I say post-graduation employment is a pretty solid reward for hard work, but I think we could all benefit from taking a step back every now and again. Sometimes there’s nothing better than doing things just because you want to in that moment, no matter how trivial.

So while I know that tweet I just read about what my friend had for lunch isn’t going to change the course of anyone’s life or make the world a better place, it doesn’t have to. Being serious all the time isn’t healthy, and it definitely isn’t fun. Me trying — key word being trying — to be funny in 140 characters or less doesn’t matter in the slightest, and that’s why I’m going to keep doing it.

-Jamie Ducharme can be reached at [email protected].