> This kind of interaction does not fit my description for a friendship.
It depends on your age. A huge chunk of my friends are in University right now, so they have very little time to dedicate to social interactions, and when they do, there is pressure for it to be physical interaction.
In addition, many of my friends are suffering with various forms of illnesses and depression, and a lot of them are makers, that delve into projects headfirst. All of which can sometimes create long gaps in contact.
This kind of interaction does not fit my description for a friendship.
>Most of my real life friends have difficulty even responding online
Is taking one month to reply on IRC not to "have difficulty even responding online?"