Someone recently said the following. I started to respond to the comment when I realized it might be useful as a top-level discussion. Without further ado...

The best case scenario for small talk is that it's simply boring.

Nope. The best case scenario is that you met your future wife.

Think for a minute about the purpose of small talk. Say you find yourself in a room with one other person. What are you going to say to her? Are you going to talk to her about how well her new puppy's potty training is going? Are you going to ask how her mother is recovering from her surgery? What about that new project she started at work?

Of course not. You can't discuss anything substantive, cuz you know so little about her that you don't even know what questions to ask.

The only things you know about her are:

  • things about her that you can see, smell, and hear
  • she's experiencing approximately the same environment as you

There's a reason observational openers are so effective. All anybody ever has is observational clues, so it feels very natural (to a socially adept person) when someone initiates a conversation on that basis. It's the natural first step for every interpersonal relationship.

tl;dr: When you eject after only having small talk, of course it's very unfulfilling, but when you learn how to transition beyond small talk, you'll start to appreciate how critical it is to your social life.