I think leaving it to people to pick their own definition is useful in this case because different age groups probably also have a different idea of what a frie

I think leaving it to people to pick their own definition is useful in this case because different age groups probably also have a different idea of what a friend and close friend is. In my mid-20s, my idea of a friend doesn't really depend too much on physical proximity. To me a friend is someone I find enjoyable/interesting enough to want to keep conversing with them. In my teens I'd have considered anyone of a similar age who I regularly interact with a friend. A close friend is someone I can trust with basically any thought/info and who similarly can trust me. All my close friends don't live anywhere near me and I have never even met 2 of them in person. But it's weird to not count them as close when we've been chatting and sharing our thoughts and experiences in near real-time for years now. I've become more restrictive with who I call a friend and especially who I call a close friend because as a child there isn't really much autonomy in choosing, you're more or less stuck with classmates and neighbors and any disagreements are meaningless and forgotten in a week. As an adult, I have much more freedom in who I engage with and I have to be picky because my time is limited and disagreements can cause much more damage.