I really hate the concept of "friendship decay". The best friends I've ever made are the ones who you can pick up where you left off months later and there's no guilt, no shame, no entitlement to either person's time or energy, space if either party needs it, but emotional-
People have lives, they're busy
As someone who only ever really consistently DMs my SO, that doesn't mean you're not my friend if I don't DM you
Some people don't express friendships in the same way you might, and that's okay
This is honestly parasocial and terminally online