Of Kardashians and intimacy

This past Sunday's NY Times featured one of their special style magazines, always a reason for another cup of Sunday coffee. I turned the pages to find an article on a phenomenon that is difficult for me to comprehend...the Kardashian clan.
I first noticed pictures of Kim or Kourtney or Khloe Kardashian in the snarky style blogs that are one of my guilty pleasures...and as in the case of many young celebrities, I thought, "Who the hell is that?" but didn't give it much thought, because a) it's hard to keep up with all these "celebrities" if you only watch all the Law and Orders and Mad Men while you're on your treadmil, and b) I wasn't particularly interested in their style...calling it "style" is pretty much using the term as loosely and irresponsibly as I will allow myself to do without changing the word to "trashy overdone drag queen-esque costuming but without the sense of humor".
Oh, that's a phrase, not a word, sorry for that...anyway, the first time that I became aware of who the Kardashians were and why they were famous was when I wandered into our family room (which I usually only do when I am going to try to tidy it, which is very painful, so I pretty much avoid that zone of the house) and found my children watching a show in which the young adult son told his mother that she was so hungry because she's been "boning too much". I believe my mouth dropped open and then I was frozen in place, which is what must happen to most of America, because I kept watching. Later the same young man had an ice pack on his private area because he had an erection that wouldn't go away. I asked my kids what was the name of this show? "Keeping up with the Kardashians" was the answer. I told them that instead of watching the show, they could get straws from the kitchen, have someone stick it in their ear and suck their brains out.
I knew that my definition of a civilized era was indeed coming to a crashing end when my 75 year old mother-in-law started giving me a blow-by-blow of what Khloe Kardashian was hawking on QVC that day.
I wondered what angle the NY Times would be coming at the Kardashian clan...the article started with a Brady-bunch like wall of squares with pictures of all the players. (My husband was the person who broke it to me that that was indeed Bruce Jenner, one of our heroes of the seventies, who is the aged stiff Ken doll patriarch of the house...try not to look directly at him, you could hurt your eyes.)
I found the article very well written, and when tackling the question of "why?" (do they exist as celebrities, do we watch them and buy the books and magazines), the author did bring up the obvious superiority based addictive effect of most reality television. (Guess the self-esteem movement didn't work as planned, since we need so many of these shows to make us feel better!) I have been haunted by one idea that the author proposed about the show's popularity:
"Strange as it may seem, we end up feeling closer to the Kardashians in some way than we do to our own families at home, where emotions may be kept more tamped down and the bathroom door locked."
As sad as it made me feel, I think this author is on to something...not only with respect to the Kardashians but with the way social networking is changing our communication. I love Facebook but I am constantly shocked at some of the status statements that are posted...statements that some may comment "TMI" but I say, why wouldn't you call your friend (or sister or mother or therapist) and talk about that! Is intimacy being re-defined? Or is part of the addiction of "Keeping up with the Kardashians" that the viewer can feel a version of being intimate, knowing the details of someone's everyday life, without the usual responsibility of someone dear entrusting you with their reality, warts and all?