In every job/industry subreddit I keep seeing the advice that “your coworkers aren’t your friends”, and honestly I think that’s bs.
You spend eight hours a day, five days a week with those people. By definition you have at least one thing in common you can talk about, and probably more, since occupations tend to attract similar personalities to them. Those factors alone should be enough, but there’s more. You want someone to cover your shift, or help you with a project? Who are you more comfortable asking, someone who you barely even know their name, or someone who’s actually your friend? Similarly, who would you be more willing to help out when asked?
You want to network in your industry and rise through the ranks or grow in your career? For that you need people who can trust you and who you, in turn, can also trust. When the manager considers who should be promoted, do you honestly think they’ll only look at the metrics of your performance? No, they’ll take into account who’s a friendly presence in the office, and who’s the weirdo that never hangs out after work and nobody knows anything about.
At the very least, and if nothing else, would you rather spend half your waking hours around people who are your friends, or around people that you barely know?