Silence-phobia

When we have a chat with people, we dread silence, unless they are close friends or family members. We are all familiar with the uncomfortable feeling that overcomes us when a conversation palls. But when I talk with English speakers I feel they dread it more than Asian people. On the other hand, when I talk in English with Asians such as from Taiwan or Thailand in my client's office, I feel more comfotable, because both of us do not care so much about a relatively long silence.
According to a newspaper I read the other day, in US, when a pause reaches four seconds during the conversation between you and me, one of us will invariably blurt out something like a fatuous comment on the weather, or a cry of "Oh, is that the time already?", rather than let the silence extend to a fifth second. Their irritation caused by an awkwardness of a long interval between a conversation is quite infectious. I also begin to feel uncomfortable.
This is one of the reasons a Japanese tends to be a listner rather than a speaker when he / she is talking to westerners.(Main reason is of course the language problem, but even if they can speak English this is true.) But living in English speaking society for a certain amount of time, even a silent Japanese becomes talkative. If you do not speak anything, you feel like you are almost non-existent.
I am afraid this silence-phobia is a kind of mental disorder of modern people. Our mind is always busy thinking about what we should say next, sometimes having no time to listen to the speaker well. Asian people are less ill in this respect. And I love Asia better for that reason.(1167)