staring at walls or "staring of into space"

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why do people on the autism spectrum do this? can it be fixed?
as a child from baby to 5 if I was left alone I would stare at the wall all day. or put toys is a line and lie on the floor and stare at them all day. mum says if she touched the toys or me I would scream. I had the symtom of not listening to my name or when people were talking. Mum says it was like I was ignoring her. trying to get my atention was hard. I wet my self alot. Becuase I did not know it was hapening.
it was hard to teach me. when I was at school I stared at the wall. I still wet my self for some years. teachers trying to get me to listen had troble. I would stare at the all again. They would have to keep making noises. Geting my atention. To get me to do anything keep talking and pointing. If they left me alone I would stare at the wall again. I did not like loud noices. but teachers had to make noices and be very close to my face. I did not like it. But I would not learn if they did not. when I got to be a teenager I could listen for some time but then I would do it again. but when I was a teenager I started to learn to read. befor I could read some words but books like spot the dog was very hard for me to read. then when I was 16 I started to be abel to read much beter. and learning lots.

people think I am staring at walls. but when I do it I can not see the wall. I see my thoghts. also my brain keeps doign it. somtiems I want to listen. then after some time I can not see or here the person any more. I am staring at walls but it is hard for me to know I am doing it. then some one will be loud at me and sudenly I will see them and then I will knwo I was doing it. I do it alot in cars. If I am left alone I can do it for hours still. somtiems people are talking to me and I just stop hearing them and I do it. or I am watchign tv and then I can not see it. somtiems I like it. but somtiems it is dangerous. somtimes I can do it and walk. it is dangerous on roads. becuase I do not know anythign around me. only my thinking.

Hmm. Considering the level of functioning you've just outlined I'm surprised that you can even write the way you do. Admittedly, there are some grammatical and spelling errors, but on a whole, it's not bad. Nice making your acquaintance. I haven't worked enough with an autistic population to see the "staring at walls" phenomena; therefore, I can offer no insight. It'd be interesting to know why, though.

it's a blank canvas. Staring at anything else just projects thoughts into your mind.

l know what you mean about "seeing your thoughts". l space out this way, and l prefer staring at walls. And somewhat resent implications about our functioning level

l don't even have AS, l'm not saying all people who just have ADHD space out to this degree but it's more of an introspection thing for me rather just involuntarily spacing out. l like to ''play'' my thoughts and sometimes make random associations.

l'm pretty much on two separate modes where l will or will not allow this to happen, at home l let myself go into trances.

Very rarely happens anywhere else, if so it's only a few seconds.

I would apparently frustrate my elementary school teachers by doing this as well. One phrase I heard a lot during childhood was "It's like he's in his own little world."

I have been able to control it more since then, but I still do it quite a lot. The ceiling in my mother's apartment has an intricate dotted texture that captures light in an interesting way; I often find myself laying in bed admiring how the light from the overhead lamp spreads across and seaps into the little hills and valleys in the ceiling.

Sometimes I zone out several times while someone is talking to me, which causes obvious problems. But other than that, it hasn't been very disabling for me. It sounds like it may be more of a problem for you, however. If you think it is interfering with your ability to function on a day to day basis, I can understand why you would want to reduce the frequency a d intensity of these episodes. Unfortunately I don't have any advice to give.

I am high fuctioning. I am a adult now. but I can have trouble with this. I am smart. I can control it more now also.

EXPECIALLY do you know what helps?

I am not specially staring at walls, but when I am busy in my thoughts and as long as the action is actually happening in my brain, the eyes become useless, because I cant turn them 180° to look into myself, so I can watch myself thinking.

If this is happening to me while listening to a person I myself would want to talk to and listen to him/her its normally a clear sign for me being exhausted. So I am tired and overwhelmed and I am no longer able to handle the flood of information and act propperly. My brain wants to have some rest, and tries to fade that stuff out and instead tries to focus on the inside.

If I am tired, and talk to someone I am not interested anyway it happens too, but thats just natural. ^^ Still I can use it on purpose to prevent unnecessary exhaustion and meltdowns, as example when invited to greater events like marriages and so on. So you are supposed to stay at least about 4 hours, it is loud, everybodies screaming, music, noises, ... if you are lucky and you have people around you, that are more extroverted and are busy talking to themselfes, you can pretend listening to their topic while fading out in reality and trying to have some rest by caring for your own thoughts.

Still get lost in my dream world. When I was a kid, people would repeat my name over and over again to get my attention, but I'd remain focused on what I was doing.

And just like scarp and Schneekugel, I will zone out while people are talking to me. Definitely happens when they are not interesting, but also happens if they spark a tangent thought. I'm queen of nodding my head, but I've had a few instances recently where I come out of it in the middle of something requiring a specific response. Embarrassing...

I can spend hours staring at the walls and ceiling just thinking about things. I used to get into trouble for doing that when I was a kid. My parents said I was being lazy and wanted to know why I was in my room just lying there doing nothing. I spaced out and stared at the walls and out the windows at school and got really bad grades.
I'm retired now and can stare at the walls and ceiling as much as I want. I think I need to do that or my brain would explode. I can't live in real time, I have to slow things down and spend most of my time focused inward.

@OP l'd say if you can't control it meds might be an option.

l'd be scared if l almost walked into traffic, sometimes l feel really distracted just listening to music and being in traffic but won't go into a total trance.

l have to try pretty hard t control it but l guess l'm hyper vigilant when l'm out. lt leads to anxiety but l guess that's the expected result of switching in between being completely spaced out and hyper aware.

When l do still allow it to happen it's because l just like doing it xD

I will ask my mum about meds. thank you.

I have had this problem too. Not quite as much as you. Nowadays, I seem to need to zone out before bedtime, and wind up going to bed much later than I like.'I also found I did it a lot when I was going to Uni after high school. I suffered depression, and stared at the walls a lot. Everyone left me alone because they thought I was studying. I had a few failures, of course.
I think of it as 'having a black hole in my head' because it seems to pull me into oblivion. It happens also when I talk in front of a class, and I have to fight it.
Maybe something in our brains need to recharge or something? Maybe some sort of escape?

I do this a lot too. When I'm thinking hard about something (usually I'm designing something in my head) I just stare at whatever's in front of me. I'm not actually paying attention at all to what I'm looking at, I'm focusing completely on the images and thoughts in my head.