just like real life

I'm chatting online with my mum for the first time (I had to create a gmail account for her and add myself to the contacts list). I wondered if I would talk more than I usually do on the phone, since text requires more a response than the usual vague murmurings I interject in pauses between monologues. Plus, my mum isn't really comfortable using a computer, so I wasn't sure she'd type as much as she talks.

So far, it's eerily similar. Mum is taking several minutes at a time to type a whole paragraph of loosely connected news, in response to which I have little to say. I keep wanting to tell her to hit enter after each sentence, at least, but I think that might make it even more confusing, if I were trying to reply to the first sentence while she keeps talking without waiting for a response.

Mum generally responds to any computer-related suggestions with panic and self-recrimination for being no good at computers, so I'm not sure what I can do about it. It's not like I've figured out a way to have an actual conversation on the phone, either, though.