To be on cruise control means you are detached from the world: you glide through, paying limited or no attention to events which occur around you. You often stare into space. You may daydream, but most of the
time you aren'
t really thinking about anything. You may feel lost even in familiar surroundings.
This can result from the break-up of a relationship, trouble within the family or the death of someone close to you.
It may involve drug use.
The term derives from the cruise control system on a
car, which allows a specific
speed to be set and regulated automatically by an onboard
computer; the driver does not have to use the accelerator pedal