You don't understand small talk if you think it has no functional purpose. Small talk has several purposes.

One, it sends a bunch of signals. I see you. You see me. Neither of us are threats. We have a shared language.

Two, it's how you find deeper topics to talk about. "What did you get up to this weekend?" "Oh, hung out with my friend. We saw a band I like - All Dogs - do a surprise anniversary show. You do anything big?"

Three, it lets people choose their level of engagement. "Cool, sounds fun. I stayed in, watched some TV" signals minimal interest vs "All dogs? Never heard of them but I love live music. What's their genre?" signals interest, and now you can a little deeper on music.

If you just plunge directly into deep stuff that's like skipping foreplay and lube. It's probably going to make people uncomfortable.