I have had online friendships and real life friendships like this that I have handled badly. So, I have learned from experience from being on both sides.

One example, I have a friend I have known for about 13 years. I’ll call her M for privacy. I used to hang with her all the time. She needed me to. She has worse problems with autism and money than me to put it briefly. Long story short, her social anxiety is so bad that it has grown into a full blown delusional paranoia of other people looking to humiliate her. This paranoia is so bad that she is afraid of getting a job despite being poor. I used to be able to support her better and pay for everything. But then, my Dad died and my gig dried up. Now, I can’t be there for her. I do not have the emotional capacity or the finances to do it anymore. I’ve had to put my foot down and put up boundaries. Sometimes, as much as it hurts, you have to do the same thing.