But mimickry of conversational tics is only one side of the coin - as much as we all like to lather ourselves in a common medium, it's also pleasant to distinguish ourselves from our peers, not just for an ulterior audience, but also one-to-one. What of course tends to happen - in a nice conversation at least - is that you lead each other in a kind of dance, with wilful flattery one moment, and cheesy antagonism the next.

Maybe time's the same - too much stimulating newness or aggravating nagging, and you zone out.

I think that distinction urge tends to be very superficial. People distinguish themselves as Mac or PC users, but don't generally put much of their identity into being a purple baboon instead of a Mac user.