Most of the time when you talk, the valuable communication in not in the info you provide, but in the subcommunication.
When you smalltalk a little, say with colleagues at the office that you see everyday, what you are subcommunicating is "we're close. we're buddys. we care a little bit about each other, and that's why we spend some time talking about nothing".
Of course too much smalltalk is wasted time. But other times small talks are only used as the prelude to deeper topics, which would seem too ominous to introduce in the first sentence of conversation.
The utmost example is "Hi", "Hi" provides no informational value at all, but subcommunicates "I acknowledge your presence, because you're important to me". That's why you usually don't say hi to strangers you don't care about.
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