What is the point of meditation? How do you get started?

What is meditation?  It is bringing yourself into the present moment.  Just having one breath being fully present, that is meditation.  
Why do we need to bring ourselves into the present moment? - because that is where our power is, that is where our creativity is, that is where we live our lives.  We don't live in yesterday or tomorrow or this afternoon, we live in the now, the present moment.
We need to spend time alone, in meditation to be able to reconnect with ourselves.  To hear what we need, to hear what we feel.  Meditation allows us to calm the incessant chattering of the mind.  The mind chatters along the whole time.  If we don't spend time alone, we don't see our thoughts for what they are - just passing across our mind.  Meditation allows us to be observers of these thoughts rather than "victims".  We can observe our thoughts and choose which ones we wish to believe, or act upon.
Quiet time alone, enables us to gain divinely inspired ideas, enables us to connect to our needs, to hear what we need.  
I would recommend spending some time alone every day.  Alone and actively working on quieting the mind/not engaging with the thoughts that are travelling across your mind.
I personally find repetitive physical exercise one of the best ways to quieten the thoughts in my head - walking the dog, swimming, running, yoga.
We are so overstimulated with computers, tv, music, radio, adverts, people, social media.  My brain can feel quite frazzled from these at times.  
You could actively choose to switch all these machines off for an amount of time, and see how that feels.
Doing sitting meditation enables you to become more aware of your body, your thoughts, your emotions.  Calming yoga is also great for this.  By focussing on your "postures" and your breathing, the mind is naturally quietened, thus enabling you to do a sitting meditation.
There are many benefits to meditation - it can help reduce your stress levels, it can improve your sleep, can help you feel happier and more contented, can help you feel more connected, it can increase your attention span, improve your immune system and more...
If you have never meditated, you could start by sitting comfortably, with your back upright and just notice 3 breaths - notice the rise and fall of your chest/the air flowing in and out through your nostrils - that is meditation.  If you start doing just this at regular intervals throughout the day, you will most likely, want to increase and do more.
I have some free and low-cost meditations available to download at :
http://www.massagedownloads.com/product/3-minute-breathing-space/
Let me know how you get on!