You keep the work and the people in separate boxes.
You have sat near them for two years and know almost nothing about their weekend, and that has never once felt like a gap.
Distance reads as dislike. It is rarely personal — it is just not switched on.
You do not need to be liked in order to function, which spares you a great deal of the invisible work most people do for free.
The distance that protects your attention is the same distance that keeps you off the list.
… work is judged on output, contact is scheduled rather than ambient, and nobody mistakes reserve for disloyalty.