> you are witnessing the practice of thinking about the consequences of words before commiting to speech.

It feels different than that though. Its not unusual for someone to take beat before responding, but in that case there are facial and body cues that they heard you and are just getting their thoughts and words in order. But in the case of users, there is an expressionless pause even before that. More like blank pause, then facial cues of thinking, then an answer. That's why I used the 'via satellite' analogy because its like it takes longer for them to even register that they have been spoken to.