False Sense of Community

I am wondering what television programs provide for us emotionally that we should be giving towards REAL people in our families and communities.... I just remember one evening about 13 years ago when I was pregnant with Joe, I was going to bed earlier than usual. When David came to bed he woke me up to tell me "Carol lost her job." I was immediately awake and concerned about this tragedy... and a bit disoriented from just waking up... I remember saying or feeling "Oh NO!" and then asked "Who is Carol?" He reminded me that she was a nurse on the program ER. I was an avid fan prior to my last trimester and had lost touch with the people in the show from retiring to bed so early. I remember  my shock at the intensity of the emotion that he displayed and that I initially felt when I discovered that someone we cared about had lost their job... only to remember that this person really didn't exist.... I remember feeling that something was terribly wrong here and I felt robbed, cheated by having David come to me for comfort of some kind for this false sense of grief. 

Recently we were discussing this idea of a false sense of community that we seem to have created for ourselves electronically... and I wonder what we are missing out on, what we are robbing from those to whom we should be giving our time, attention and concern by giving that energy to these other places...?