Small Talk or a Longing for Nice Words?

In class we acknowledged our seemingly superficial interactions with others in life after reading what Thoreau thinks in Walden “We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are.”
Thoreau is arguing that many times we only talk and see each other for the sake of talking and seeing each other, not because we actually have a strong need to reminisce with this person. I see this everyday in my life and the lives of my friends around me sitting down for dinner and making conversation that seems too trivial, making small talk with people you kind of know, that repetitive conversation that comes every day or so “how are you?.. “I’m fine, you?”.
We all know we do this, but the question is why, when many of us don’t care about the questions we are asking?
I have come to a conclusion that we use this form of communication to fill an emotional void of a desire for a connection to others. If we didn’t engage in this small talk there would be no kind words from strangers and faces that are familiar, to fill our days.
If people decided to stop replying or asking the same artificial questions then our days would be faced with less human interaction which is what we long for. It is the fact that we are asking at all genuinely or not, makes the days go by more pleasant.