[venzaspa]

It just goes to show that people have very different views. I think when I hear people thinking out loud (ums and ahs) it's a marker that they are actually engaging with the question, thinking through an answer and not bullshitting without thinking.

[td6]

I agree to you, when it's in person. I think what your describing is mostly the beginning of an answer.

Just randoms "um" inbetween because your struggling to build sentences can get annoying both in person and online

[inopinatus]

Just sit there in silence whilst you cogitate.

[gegtik]

this is the move

[macintux]

Space fillers are sadly important for group settings where you need to finish a thought before someone interjects.

But hearing them from an interviewee drives me crazy, along with "sort of", "kind of", etc. I once counted all of the "sorta"s in an NPR interview, it was brutal.

[doubled112]

"Ummm, I think I agree with this description" vs "I, think, umm, I agree with, umm, this description"

The first one indicates something along the lines of "thinking, please stand by". The second one is a struggle.

[fasterik]

I think speaking fluidly while thinking out loud is a completely separate skill. Some people are really good at it, usually the ones who get a lot of practice at public speaking. I also suspect extroverts have an easier time with it than introverts. "Ums" and "ahs" aren't necessarily evidence that a person is thinking, but it's also true that a lot of very smart people are "inarticulate" in the conventional sense.