brave new media?

My friends, most of you know that I hover on facebook occasionally. I claim that this is to stay in touch with friends -- and usually I have kept it that way. But lately, I have had the crushing feeling of watching my friends' lives come apart in slow motion from a distance. I often feel like a voyeur. And, I must say, that despite the part of me that is curious, mostly I feel helpless and uncomfortable. These are certainly people I care about. But, that said, most of those 200 plus people who are my friends on facebook would not be close enough to me to call me in the middle of the night and tell me the details I have now got access to.

I know that I am on the far side of the facebook line, where I choose to share only the good and the happy and occasionally the outlandish...but would never share my problems with my mate in that forum (if there were any such problems....and here too, I prefer to resolve personal problems with the people themselves -- friends, mates, pets, and usually even Eileen). So, I am beginning to believe that I should be taking one day a week away from my computer. I feel like I would lose the rest of the world doing that. But, mostly I sit in silence, as people just need to vent sometimes, and mostly I grieve for them silently, too...as I don't think that they would actually want my grief or commiseration.

I am interested in hearing from friends who have resolved these issues without going cold turkey. I would love to continue to see photos of my small friends growing bigger, and hear of exciting happy news, and even be able to send a quick condolence for friends who have lost close family. I love being that close, even when the Air Force has played "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" with our family often in the last 5 years.