The Discover tab (added in 2012 https://blog.twitter.com/2012/discover-better-stories and removed in 2015 https://blog.twitter.com/2015/updating-trends-on-mobile) solved this problem much more elegantly. Now it's a setting most people won't find, can't be shown on demand.

The "While You Were Away" view has been really frustrating to me, because I follow thousands of people and appreciate a summary, but if I accidentally click off it to Mentions I can't get it back. The Discover tab was great because I could click on it whenever I wanted.