@unspeaker
I've always thought that generic words of support, without digging deeper, would feel lame — same as receiving Birthday greeting online from a person you barely know. Funny thing, I have a second faux Birthday date that I use for my online profiles to avoid this and back in the day even some of those who knew me personally who've been buying that and sending me HB. Once I had an idea of holding a party on that day 😂
@unspeaker
Back to "emotional support" and generic words — in my experience (and to my surprise) some people DO appreciate it, so now I say them myself from time to time.
Problem is — not everyone is empathetic or just perceptive in general (and I won't pretend I'm good at it either), so they can't even say those words properly — at an appropriate moment even. This is where it truly becomes a trainwreck! So maybe some of your friends aren't… distant — maybe they are like that.