Any one else 'space out' randomly?

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Yes, I've totally had that spaced-out reaction - people used to gossip about me behind my back about it, but that seems to have diminished since my diagnosis several years ago, I really curtailed the problem. Before my diagnosis, I would space out and stare, which was really embarrassing when people brought it to my attention - one even thought that I was gay (no surprises, I guess!) but no, I do have a wife, and maybe once every couple of weeks, she tells me that I'm spacing out but I just need more time to think, or if there's something disagreeable or stress-inducing about what she says, I tend to shut down (but I guess shutting down isn't necessarily the same as spacing out - b/c the latter can occur independent of stress levels).

The other day I was at my best friends house and I was eating a salad. I was standing at the counter with my salad, just moving the veggies around and examining them as I ate them (like I always do.) I like to try and get one of each thing on the fork each time :p Well, as I was eating it, I came across this tiny little grape tomato. It was pretty much the smallest grape tomato I had ever seen! So I excitedly commented on how small the tomato was and looked up at my best friend and her mom who gave me the weirdly amused look they always give me.

Apparently, they had been commenting on some of the outfits on this TV show that was on, and it was just "funny" how I randomly blurted out something about tomatoes that had nothing to do with the conversation that had been happening. I guess I HAD been aware of the conversation and had kinda heard what they were saying, but it didn't even occur to me that it was odd to just say some unrelated thing that I randomly thought of. Sort of like in my mind, their conversation was a part of the TV show, and I didn't even consider the fact that it was something I could contribute to.

Her mom goes, "Well....you COULD have included yourself as a part of our conversation, but instead you were so concentrated on that salad!" Lol! It had never occurred to me, but I WAS pretty intently focused on the salad. It's like I was completely transported to salad-world, instead of just being in the real world and EATING a salad. I think this is something I can get a handle on as long as I understand it, but it was kind of a funny thing how this happened and how I became more aware of the way I act :p

Yeah, and it's not a rare thing. I try to avoid it when driving, though, for obvious reasons. It feels perfectly natural to me and it weirds me out a little that most people can only relate to it in terms of being stoned.

I've always wondered if there is research about about it -- like do brain waves change in that state? and what does an fMRI show when it happens? If anyone knows the medical term for "spacing out" or "zoning out" I'd be glad to hear/learn it.

Yeah.



Yep.
The pressure of your peers keeps the needed focus, I'd guess. Or is it unneeded ?
Zoning can be fun.

Once in a while I'll find myself enjoy an impromptu zone hiatus. Walking outside with snow on the ground with flakes falling, and a breeze happens by, and you enter in a zone. An aloneness in thought, and the outside experience is there but the feel of it is different. I don't know if introverted people in general can experience this ethereal deep thought in this isolation .

I really don't think so..... it has a strangeness about it.

I spaced out a few days ago, whilst focussed on a playground mum's lovely necklace. I think I may have looked like I was staring at her cleavage. I should have told her afterwards that I was looking at her cross. But, drawing attention to an item normally only worn by Catholics here, in a non-denom school, in the west of Scotland, is a no-no.

Yep. Maybe it's my brain recharging, kind of like the character Beans in the movie Rango, but not that stiff.

Often

One reason my school performance, even at the college level, could be erratic.
I do not zone out so much as just start daydreaming or remembering something, but forget my surroundings. Let us call this being on "Auto-pilot"! LOL

Sincerely,
Matthew

Yes, I space out randomly. I tend to shut off my external world to relax.

I space out alot. I might be focusing on something, and all of a sudden I begin feeling like I am in some other reality or dimension, then I space out. Slowly I come back. I can make myself do it most of the time when I want to.

I just space out all the time. In fact I totally freeze.

Often. People usually ask if I'm alright while I'm deep in thought. I can concentrate on what they're saying and think about what I need to for a little while, but then I just lose all focus of them. They're usually talking about things I don't care to listen to anyway. I can barely remember what I was thinking about when I'm interrupted. Sometimes I really hate it when that happens- it's as though I lose all track of time, and end up spending several hours processing stuff. Sometimes it feels really nice to just escape from reality, but sometimes it's awful when I start thinking about negative topics.

I sometimes space out, but there's always a known trigger for it, like if I'm distracted by something or having a shutdown due to stress or overload. Or if I'm just really engrossed in something. Doesn't seem random with me though, maybe to others but not me.

It sounds as if the OP may be referring not to daydreams, but to what i have.
I had an EEG test quite a few years ago. Doctors were testing why i was having these moments of complete blankness. It was as if i just wasn't there for a while (seconds rather than minutes). They referred to them as "Petit Mal" or "absences". Apparently it's a form of epilepsy. As they require a trigger (different for everyone who gets them) and the EEG was done in a hospital where the trigger was obviously absent, the EEG was inconclusive.
Since then i've moved and seem to've inadvertently moved away from my (unidentified) trigger:-) so I don't do it nearly as much anymore.

Me!

This exactly for me too. Especially if I've had to be in a lot of social situations that day.