James Embry, a 28-year-old Web editor at a Binghamton, N.Y., health-care company, chats online with his mother in Big Bear, Calif., from the office, exchanging anywhere from one to 20 messages with her during a typical workday.

On computer and cellphone screens in workplaces across the country, many young employees keep up daylong conversations with their parents, sharing what the weather is like, what they ate for lunch or what the boss just said about their work.

The running chatter with Mom or Dad is possible for young adults in their 20s and early 30s because they are the first generation to hit the workforce with tech-savvy parents. Most baby boomers are using the same smartphones, tablets and laptops as their children, making daily communication with Mom easier and more open-ended than ever.

Chatting, or texting, is a subtler way to stay in touch from a cubicle than a phone call. As long as the computer's sound effects are on mute, chatting is silent. It is as simple as opening a Web application such as Google Hangout (the chat interface is known as "Gchat"), Facebook or iChat—all free—and selecting someone from a list of online contacts. In most applications, a chat window will pop up on screen. Depending on where you work and how far away from the boss you sit, you may choose to minimize or hide it.

Before he and his mother started chatting, Mr. Embry often wasn't able to talk when she called him on the phone at work. Her regular missed calls to his cellphone were a source of frustration for both. One day, Mr. Embry saw his mother's name among his Gchat contacts, because she was one of his frequent email contacts and she had logged in to check her Gmail account. He sent her a chat message suggesting that they try online chatting instead of the phone.