There seem to be two camps here. There are those who have a logical argument for why gaps in the line, even large ones, cause no actual harm. Then there are those who say you have to fill in gaps, that's just the way it is, and you deserve to suffer the consequences if you don't.
I think there's just some part of our caveman brains that instinctually needs to make progress toward our destination even if it doesn't change anything about when we'll arrive. It's the same thing in stop-and-go traffic. People will take a detour that actually takes longer, but they feel like it's faster and are less frustrated because they keep moving.