Zoning out?

[allyta]

I zone out too much. And lately I've been staring at people. I don't even know I'm doing it because I'm so lost in my thoughts. A few people have gotten angry with me this week.
Do any of you have any tips for preventing this? I'm sick of being a weirdo and this problem just makes it worse. Most of the time I don't even look at people, only when I'm zoned out. I wouled be creeped out too if someone was staring at me for a few minutes! I just don't know what to do. Yesterday a few people were staring at me when I was staring at this girl. She was upset, but I had no idea I was staring at her....I haven't had any time alone this week, plus I've been really busy. A lot of people are starting to notice my weird behavior.

 

[David Larson]

I assume this zoning out happens during the many brief periods of no activity we experience multiple times per day, and that you sort of "stop using your eyes" and just think. I used to stare at people during these times, with similar results. Then I tried just picking a spot on the wall to stare at while I zoned out, but people still thought I was weird.

Then I figured out the solution: stare into your phone just like everyone else. A book, magazine, or newspaper would also serve the same function. The best is when I'm stuck waiting in a waiting room with a TV. I don't even care if it's the Oprah Winfrey Network, I'll stare into that TV and zone out until I hear someone call my name.

Hope this helps.

On the side, addressing the subject of zoning out as a whole, I don't think neurotypicals do this. Before when I've zoned out, some of the braver NTs dared to imply there was nothing going on in my head where in reality I was immersed in deep thought. Do NTs really live every second of their life in the world of shallow surface thoughts, never delving deeper into their consciousness but rather constantly seeking external stimuli to occupy their minds moment by moment like animals? What a simple existence that would be.

 

[Cosmophylla]

I zone out a LOT. I just need to do it. Sometimes my eyes happen to rest on a person but I've learnt to avoid that at all costs because of the repercussions, so I do as David Larson suggested, and stare into a book, my bag/lap/hands (when seated), at my hands/fingers/fingernails, out the window, at plants (one of the best...relaxing as well as allowing me space to see my thoughts), at my phone/tablet, the TV, etc. At home with my family I stare at whatever and my husband knows I'm deep in thought, resting my eyes. He does the same but I don't know whether he is NT or on the spectrum...he shows traits of both.

So I agree, find something else to let your eyes rest on...it takes a bit of practice but you'll find a few things that work for you. Mobile phones have got to be the most useful one these days... Nobody would suspect you were faking it with one of those in your hand.

 

[watersprite]

Just repeating what Cosmophylla and David Larson said. I stare partly because I am zoned inside myself for various reasons. I look at trees or other plants, or my phone or my sketchbook to prevent people noticing too much.

 

[Kopfe]

i think about counter strike global offensive

 

[ancusmitis]

I used to make sure and bring a book with me everywhere. Now I try to write sometimes. Except I often wind up zoning as I think about what to say next

 

[tree]

http://www.livescience.com/33357-why-we-zone-out.html
This short one page article discusses positive aspects of 'zoning out.'

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/ju...ing-attention-zoning-out-crucial-mental-state
This one notes that mood affects the tendency to have lapses of attention.

Finding a way to reduce inattentive staring/inadvertent gaze
is not so easy.

These questions seem somewhat related:

• What am I trying to achieve?
• What am I doing that is working?
• What am I doing that is slowing me down?
• What can I do to change?
  
  https://hbr.org/2015/02/5-ways-to-become-more-self-aware

 

[Jon's Mom]

I zone out a LOT. I just need to do it. Sometimes my eyes happen to rest on a person but I've learnt to avoid that at all costs because of the repercussions, so I do as David Larson suggested, and stare into a book, my bag/lap/hands (when seated), at my hands/fingers/fingernails, out the window, at plants (one of the best...relaxing as well as allowing me space to see my thoughts), at my phone/tablet, the TV, etc. At home with my family I stare at whatever and my husband knows I'm deep in thought, resting my eyes. He does the same but I don't know whether he is NT or on the spectrum...he shows traits of both.

So I agree, find something else to let your eyes rest on...it takes a bit of practice but you'll find a few things that work for you. Mobile phones have got to be the most useful one these days... Nobody would suspect you were faking it with one of those in your hand.

 

[Jon's Mom]

Hi I really love to know more about Zoning out. My son does it. Well more like replays stories he watches. He clearly love it. You can hearing him laughing out loud somes but then there are days when the story is a horror. He has broken his leg and bitten us multiple times. He is disruptive in class because he is shouting and talking to the characters in his head.

He has a difficulty coming out of these zones. I want to be able to help him control it. Do you have and recommendations?

 

[AuBurney Tuckerson]

I zone out all the time, but it isn't at people. I zone out at objects or just anywhere. I even zone out at nothing! I've done this from childhood. I do feel comfortable when zoning out, though. Could this also be a form of stimming?

 

[elements]

It could be dissociation.. i chronically suffer from this as a means to cope with anything thats overwhelming..completely maladaptive but a means to when there is no other coping.

 

[Bella Pines]

I zone out and go into my head. I will look up and find the world around me has changed and I have no memory of it happening. I'll zone out on the train and it will be really crowded, then I'll snap back to reality and find the carriage empty, I won't recall anything in between.

I actually like it. It's literally my comfort zone. There's too much input in the world for me to live in it, so zoning out is like a mini break. It lets me process all the sensory input and it's a relief.

But if you zone out in the middle of a conversation, or near a road it can be dangerous, I once snapped back to reality to find a bus speeding towards me. And zoning out in front of people offends them greatly.

So I control when it happens. I commute to work and do it on purpose. I put headphones on and my hood up and go to my special place in a controlled way. When I interact with the world it's deliberate and has purpose. So I control it mainly with organisation and forethought.