Television conditions us that we need to hear someone talking all the time?

A lot of people I know, family members included, sit down and watch tv when they have down time or nothing better to do. Most of them tend to engage in conversation a lot while they aren't watching tv, but from my perspective it seems like most of it is meaningless filler, just an alternative to silence. I'd say it's a fair umption that 99% of domesticated, suburban American households with a traditional family (say a married couple with multiple children) have a television in them. I'm finding it difficult to articulate my description in exact relation to my question, but it just seems to me like there are a lot of people who just can't deal with silence. They would rather have a stranger entertaining them than sit quietly and just reflect (for 30 minute periods, of course). What really gets me is when people engage in conversation about the characters in tv shows they both watch. You literally might as well be talking about a dream, television's as real as that but it didn't even come out of your own head. It's my own personal opinion, but at least doing something like reading a book or playing a video game isn't completely pive.