The same as any friendship: mutual support and love. What you’re describing sounds like an acquaintance to me, not a friend, if conversations don’t develop past small talk. Maybe that’s what you’re missing.

The majority of my friends are online. The internet has connected me with people who broaden my horizons, help me learn interesting and important things, and grow as a person. You don’t need to know someone in-person for that to happen anymore. IRL friendships will always be better, all other things being equal, but they’re not the only solution.

Some of my closest friendships are people I’ve either never seen, or only got to meet a couple times. It’s not like living far away makes them worse friends.

You never know what kind of situation you’ll end up in. One time my transfer flights got messed up, and I was left stranded in a random airport for almost a day. I ended up asking around, and one of those long-distance friends drove hours to pick me up, get me some food, and let me get rest too.

Of course I’d love for them to live closer, so we can see each other regularly, but i’ll take what I can have

My bestie is on the other coast.

Most of our conversations are us talking about life, what we think about things, venting about work and our loved ones and being as ridiculous and unfocused as we always are.

She was also the Best Woman in my wedding.

I feel like it’s a matter of finding friends you have friend chemistry with rather than people you kinda get along with while doing a singular thing

If you feel like you are not missing anything, then more power to you. It really has a lot to do with how you relate to people, it seems like for you it’s activities only and you don’t seem to bond intellectually too much or you wouldn’t be asking.

I’ve had several long distance friendships, in fact I still have and they are among my most stable relationships outside of family. It’s having those people you can rely on when things get tough for support, and also to share thoughts and discuss opinions or whatever - to have a conversation knowing we understand each other in a way most people don’t. That can be very rewarding even if I don’t see them face to face anymore, or, in some cases, even if I’ve never met them in person.

Well, not everyone forms connections based on shared activities; and even those who do, some activities can be done long-distance (debating philosophy, sharing music recommendations).

For a lot of us, we don’t stop caring about someone we don’t see long-term (though I’m told this is a neurodivergent trait to some degree) so even a friend we haven’t seen in years we can talk to and have it feel “fresh”.

You’ve never shared your intimate personal life with anyone? Your fears and woes, and happiness and triumphs? One of the wonderful qualities of deep friendship is the ability to withstand long stretches of being apart and still shine as brigth as the last time you met. I have a couple of people right now who I haven’t seen or talked to in years. But I have the utmost certainty that if I were to pick up the phone and write them “hey, can we talk?” I would get an almost immediate response, despite the timezones. And the conversation would flow as if we just talked yesterday. That, is friendship to me.

Because they’re a great surrogate for close counter friendships when none are available

You can probably still be emotionally attached to someone, even if they’re not around anymore? I suppose there isn’t a point like in they’ll join you at going to the bar or help you redo the kitchen… But there are other things in life and we’re social creatures. We also like to talk, or just have someone who cares for us. Even more so if you spent some time of your lives together at some point.

To maximize the number of people who show up at your funeral.

Refreshing to read a post about someone with friends for a change.

My best friends are on the other side of the country. We met playing d&d over voice chat over the pandemic but got along so well we had to start having extra calls to just chat or else we wouldn’t be able to get around to playing.

At this point I’ve seen them in person more often than my local pathfinder group with whom I also play over voice chat.

But yeah I agree in general about text only friends