Technically speaking, what is it when we 'space out'?

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I remember being very confused when I was a kid and my aunt told me I was daydreaming. I think I responded with something like, "I was thinking," and I think she probably argued with me about it as if I was supposed to understand how I could be dreaming, which is totally different from thinking, during the day. I don't remember when I figured out that daydreaming and dreaming are somewhat synonymous for intensive thinking.

Funny story--I do remember finding out, when I was probably 6 or 7, that the word for what was being celebrated once a year was "birthday" and not "Burt Day"--that is, a yearly celebration of Burt from Burt & Ernie. It was a while longer until I learned that "birth" meant the method by which human life begins.

Do any of you ever close your eyes at work or other places while spacing out? It only happens in the hallways at work and not often. I don't notice my eyes are closed till I open them and then know that they were closed. I guess I am alert somehow because I have never ran into anyone or anything.

I don't, in fact I find it easier to visualize pictures/play sound/play video in my head or concentrate or fantasize with my eyes open.

I just stop paying attention to visual input. I'm always careful to make sure my eyes aren't pointed anywhere inconvenient so that people don't think I was "staring at them" when I was doing something else entirely (e.g. "listening to music").

My eyes must also be open for the autopilot walking/driving thing where you lose time on a routine route, because I snap out of it when faced with unanticipated or complex obstructions rather than just walking or crashing into them (and thank goodness for that!).

I think for me spacing out is when I am not interested in what is going on around me, so I daydream about a special intense interest.

I usually space out when I'm not interested in what's going on around me, so I change the subject in my mind. I do it mostly when I'm very sleepy. Sometimes I'm singing and wake up noticing that I missed a part of the song, but when I look back, I remember to sing it. This also happens when I'm reading: suddenly I ask myself how I got there, so I look back in that page and I realize that I actually read that but I wasn't paying attention...