It seems pointless to us but here we are communicating thousands of miles apart from each other in real time. I mean, I know it's a message board but if we all sat here hitting F5 then it would be real time.

Can you imagine the gravity of seeing a live broadcast for the first time? Maybe not, but we have evidence of that; look at what people were like when they saw TV for the first time. Look at how they reacted to trout like the moon landing.