Sure it does, everywhere. (/s in case that isn't clear, this doesn't always happen in my area which has several Google offices, let alone other less populated areas)

> And short of that, there are also detour signs that redirect you around the obstruction.

Sure, which you could have avoided entirely had you known about the issue.

> If something happened e.g. a snow day at school surely you could call the office and find that out. There is no way twitter is the sole source of that sort of information. I guarantee it is on their school website.

School closures for weather, yes, but not everything, and often they are slow to update, and people would rather not call (and the central office would rather not field those calls).

> You have to remember that the world has to work for the senile old person too.

And you have to remember that not everyone seems to be seeking out inconvenience as much as you.

No one is saying it's impossible to survive without push notifications about local events, they are saying that twitter became a de facto standard for that years ago because it was the best option for publishing small updates by local governments and other similar organizations, and now that twitter has devolved into its current state there is no good alternative and people are slow to change.