if you think that not seeing them face to face invalidates any sort of good will towards each other then that's your personal outlook. I email tons of people every day that I've never met in person but have still developed ideas of, opinions on, and wonder about, so I don't think that the removal of physically seeing the person changes too much about your well wishes towards them.
And I'm not saying silly as in not valid to exist, I mean silly as in letting it bother you to that degree.
Edit: I do also want to acknowledge that a good 70% of the time or so, I'd be willing to bet you're correct and that a person saying pleasantries doesn't care one bit, but I know there are people that do mean that stuff, to one degree or another, because I'm that way a lot of the time, and some people I know are that way.