Visual focus

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For example, when I walk down the street, I don't "look at things" instead my gaze is almost always a completely unfocused outward look, taking in as much as I can. I couldn't begin to count the number of times people have said to me "I drove by you and waved to you today, and you didn't even see me, it was like you were in your own world"

I think I do this, because if I let myself focus on one thing, it becomes all I see, I start concentrating on the details of it, and lose observation of everything around it, including where I am, where I'm going etc.

Perhaps this is a coping mechanism that prevents me from becoming too engrossed in the details of any one thing, and keeps me more "Normal/NT" by just looking at the whole of things. Maybe it helps to stop my over processing of detailed sensory information that leads to meltdowns.

Maybe this has something to do with what people think of as the "vacant autistic stare"

The reason I mention this, is because it never seems "natural" for me to do this, it's like in the back of my mind, i have this knowledge that I should be doing it. It's like I have to let my guard down to look at something specific.

Maybe instead the reason I do this, is because it gives me more ability to focus on what I'm currently thinking about instead of being overwhelmed by the details of the things around me. "a car passing me" interferes with less thoughts in it's processing than "A red pontiac grand am, with license plate YTJ 299, with a man and woman in the front seat, and 2 screaming kids in the back seat, both boys just passed by me at about 30 km/h"
And if i "observe" the car passing me, that's just the least of what I'll see, so I ignore anything more than that there is a car... And my train of thought goes on uninterrupted.

I totally get what you're talking about. And coincidentally yesterday a guy in front of my apartment building said "You're in your own little world again, aren't you?" as I just walked right past him staring blankly ahead. WHerever I am, I am more inside my head thinking than physically there. I look forward and see things but don't really think about them, which can be kind of dangerous but usually just ends up with me getting lost.

I know what you're talking about. I often ignore my surroundings too and notice very little of what happens around me. I do this particularly much if I'm busy thinking about something else (in my own world, as others would call it) or if I want to concentrate on something. I ignore my surroundings to avoid distractions and to give my brain a break from having to process every little detail in my surroundings.

Sometimes people tell me they waved to me somewhere and I didn't see them, or they are trying to talk to me but I don't notice them. My hubby sometimes jokingly says things like "wake up" or "welcome back" when I finally notice that he's trying to talk to me. I've taught my colleagues to use my name to catch my attention before they start talking to me, because otherwise I usually just ignore them as any other background noise and assume they are talking to someone else.

This comes naturally to me though and I do it automatically and often even without noticing or giving it much thought. I think this is a coping mechanism to avoid having to process too much information from my surroundings. I do think this is part of the reason why some people say we are in our own little worlds, because we sometimes disconnect from our surroundings like this.