Anyone wondering why I sometimes have to take time out from social media doesn’t understand how an online community can take the place of a real-life one for those of us who are virtually housebound by illness or invalidity. This usually means that we end up taking it all far too seriously.

Some of our on-line pals are the nearest we have to real friends. We know and care about their families, rejoice for their successes or grieve for their troubles. Others, of course, as in real-life are mere acquaintances. Even so, their interactions with us hit harder than they should. If a near -stranger was rude to me in a supermarket I’d shrug it off but someone with whom I regularly exchange on FB cuts deeper. There are people on line who have become family to me. We phone each other and care very much. Some I meet, some…