I've noticed that, like the author, many advocating for WFH live far away from their office and have long commutes.

Suppose your office were next door. Then, you could have a 1-minute commute and enjoy some degree of socialization and the amenities of the office. You could have lunch at home, and you wouldn't need dedicated workspace there.

The fact that many would prefer this setup to WFH suggests that the problem is not the office itself but the commute. There is a distance that, for most folks, commuting doesn't present much of a problem.

For example, my commute by bicycle is about 9 minutes, bus 15 minutes, car 20 minutes. I think the trade-off is worth it here, but I can imagine a point where it wouldn't be.