There was no banter, no personal jokes, no bouncing off each other or spark. Instead, we had created a fake intimacy that felt like closeness but, when I look back, was really self-centred and self-serving.

It has made me realise just another way in which this pandemic has affected my life. My relationships have been starved of the person-to-person contact they need to thrive, but simply shooting off a voice note clearly isn’t enough to maintain them.

We’re back in lockdown and it’s probably going to be a long time until I can see my friends in the way I was doing before coronavirus happened. This time has made me realise that I need to schedule in time for catching up that’s reactive.

I don’t think it’s impossible to get real intimacy through a screen, but I do think it takes work. There can be something quite draining about video chats; it feels awkward to be familiar and personal to a laptop in such a static, non-atmospheric environment but I know I’ll only become more comfortable with this if I keep trying.

Keeping friendships in lockdown:“I’m worried relying on voice notes has created fake intimacy”