fuel guage 2001 silverado

I see alot of posts on bad fuel gauge on silverados. mine does the same thing goes to empty light comes on goes back up etc. My question is does this mean the fuel pump could be going to? Or can I just leave it just an anoyance without hurting anything?

thanks
gs

not sure if its the sending units that are going bad or the grounding problems in the dash. mine started to go past the full mark and stays down at the bottom of the gage. even when i unplug it. would be nice to know if i am going to need to remove the bed or have the dash replaced, i have the notice from chevy about my guage cluster.