Question: what does it mean when someone stares at nothing?
Answer: This state as you call it "zoning out" is a light hypnotic trance state, you can call it a driving trance, a tv trance or simply staring off into nothing, as well as the state when you just falling asleep or just waking up, the common thread to all of this is all a light hypnotic trance state...it is the same state ...