The Awkwardness of Silence

Everyone seems to get really uncomfortable during prolonged periods of silences. Alot of people mention that it's awkward but that it's usually short lived because someone will say something stupid that breaks the awkwardness. I'm usually the person who says something stupid and I guess it's just because I don't feel awkward in silence, I just think it's funny. Even on the first day of class when Sal walked in and didn't say anything, everyone just sat there and looked around the room to see what other people were doing, and I'm sitting there laughing. Then we talked about the idea that, as a culture, we're taught that moments of silences are supposed to be uncomfortable and that you should just fill the silence with random talking. I disagree with that. The whole day is filled with people talking to you and you talking back to them. Moments of prolonged silence are rare, so why ruin them with pointless conversation?