The story about life as emergencies is about how people, especially young people, develop a fretful self. If you see life as a stream of emergencies, this frames your life narrative. Indeed, Twitter itself followed one of its co-founders’ early enthusiasm for police scanners. You learn that framing things as emergencies gets attention, including attention from your friends. In a world where even middle schoolers say they can’t handle the number of messages they receive, telling a friend “It’s an emergency” bumps you to the top of the list.