This desire to follow people’s lives from a distance without necessarily interacting with them in the world is the root of the very unhealthy parasocial tendencies driving social media. It seems quite innocent and benign on the scale of one person just wanting to keep up with the life of a cool coworker from the past, but it quickly adds up to a bunch of people passively following other people with very little actual interaction. It is more akin to reading a novel or watching a movie except that social following tricks our brain into thinking we really are keeping up a relationship with the people that we’re voyeuristically watching.
Counterpoint: This ability to "follow people's lives from a distance without necessarily interacting with them in the world" is the only way I have of renewing old friendships with childhood friends, schoolmates and friends from college.
It is a HUGE social benefit to me, as I've moved far away. I don't need Abe's phone number, Betty's email, and I don't expect even Christmas cards updating me on Charlie's family. But if any of them post on FB that their parent or child or dog just died, graduated, or got married (in a progressive animal-rights nation), I can make an effort to let them know I care.
I've never heard of anyone thinking that they are keeping up a relationship with someone by watching them via social media from a distance. This sounds like a made-up concern to me. There is no difference to asking someone how someone else is doing, a phenomenon as old as humankind, probably.
Youre touching at something subtle and nuanced that most dont understand.