Friendship looks different now. Some of the closest people in your life might live in another city, another country, maybe even on the other side of a screen. You’ve never bumped shoulders walking down a hallway. And yet, you talk daily.

Online friendships tend to start with common ground. Shared playlists. Matching humor. A random comment that turns into a three-hour conversation at 2 a.m. There’s often a sense of safety in the distance, it’s easier to say certain things when typing gives you a moment to think.

In-person friendships carry a different weight. You grow up together, or see each other across desks. You notice how someone taps their foot when they’re anxious, how their laugh sounds in a crowded room. These are friendships built in the pauses, the in-between spaces, long walks, slow afternoons, eye contact that says more than a message ever could.

What makes a friendship meaningful isn’t always its origin. It’s whether it holds space for honesty. Whether it shows up, in whatever way it can. Both kinds of friendship, digital or face-to-face, can carry joy, comfort, and depth.

And when one crosses into the other? When you meet someone you’ve only known through a screen, and nothing feels unfamiliar, that’s when the lines start to blur. And maybe they were never that separate to begin with.