When the pausing is happening at another person's town, one of your internet connections is out of sync. My internet connection hiccups and it takes 4 or 5 seconds more to drop my items sometimes. If it takes more then 7 or 8 seconds, it usually means that one of us is about to Resetti.
When it comes to home screen options (and reading signs, as I've seen), it means your game is processing a lot of data. My town that I had been playing for almost three months daily, was having a lot of processing hiccups, especially when reading my Bulletin Board and Re-Tail's premium signboard. Not sure how to fix that, but just keep it in mind.