Why do we find silences during conversation awkward/uncomfortable

<p>I think it’s most awkward either with friends you don’t really meet up with a lot, or people whom you are meeting for the first time. We’ve been living with our family our whole lives, so it’s not really awkward. When you meet people for the first time, the entire conversation revolves around asking questions about the other people to get to know them better, and when you run out of things to say, it’s really awkward, because you can’t drop back to any other topic that you talk about with closer friends or family members.</p>