Is Small Talk a Social Lubricant?

i think there is a social lubricant function of small talk. Maybe that's part of the glue that holds us together. i've never seen anybody stand around the water cooler and socialize. And if it can be done even virtually in azom, i think it's not to be discounted so easily. The proverbial water cooler as a metaphor for what we're missing when we're not all in person.