What do you mean "pretending"?

I unfollow or block assholes, but there is a whole world of folks I keep up with ranging from distant relatives to musicians I played a one off gig with.

These folks are about as good friends as the people at local businesses I know well enough to say "hi, how's your daughter" or whatever.

I don't have to be radically intimate with people in order to count them among my friends. It's a scale, and it comes and goes based on how we interact. But it's not pretense.