I did in the past and it worked for a while till the differences between these people and me became too much.

Same here. It's like unless you don't talk you have "friends" because any difference is more important than what you have in common. It's tiring.

At least in Steemit you can Philter the friends you follow or read their posts and do trial and error that way.

My husband and I are at a point that we don't really care anymore if we do have friends or not. We'll just wait till the "real friend" reveals him/herself who can stand butting heads with us and still be friends. Because a real friend understands a true individual.

You got it going, just keep going. :)