Does this come from experience or?

My best friends are friends I made due to my software hobby when I was a child. Hard to find such group concentrated in my proximity at the time.

I still continue to talk and meet with them every once in a while even though we are continents apart.

Presumably that depends on the context in which your 'real life' friends see you

Real-life friends are ditching each other commonly these days, because the Block function on Whatsapp (or whatever app they use to communicate) seems so convenient and consequence-free.