Really? You think that talking to people I spend a third of my life with is the same as chit chatting with complete strangers at a grocery store? I feel sorry for your coworkers.
for some people this is flipped, and for some people it's not a valuable distinction. people who shop at the same grocery store as me are part of my community--much closer to my coworkers than to commenters on hacker news, for example
We've got a couple armchair psychologists in this thread. Like precise level of professional distance kept is a deep insight into our psyches. One iota more? Maybe you've replaced your family with your work family. One iota less? You are probably clinically depressed.