Oh, and if you are looking for a street name, turn down the radio. Because, that helps your vision… somehow
Thanks for your personal experiences 
It looks like the most common reason is to shut out distractions, which now that I think about it, makes a lot of sense. I suppose it may become a habit after that, even when there aren’t distractions around.
Most of the other reasons people have cited are also logical. I’m very happy that this personal mystery has at last been solved.
And I can’t hear without my glasses on. Go figure.
If people are making an unusual response to your use of eye contact, you’re probably doing it for too long.
I heard that Mitch Hedberg developed the habit while performing to ease his stage fright.
I do it when talking on the phone, mostly to close out other distractions. I think this started when I was doing some sale talks over the phone. I know it freaks out my father when he notices it, but I figure my audience on the other end of the phone can’t tell.
I’ve noticed this before and have found that it tends to occur most when the speaker is about to say something condescending, of dubious truth or otherwise “lecturingly” (is that a real word?).
After thinking about it I figured it was a disassociation thing; knowing they are going to say something a bit stupid, they effectively remove themselves from the conversation as much as possible without actually walking away.
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I’ve seen it done, but the only time I do it is if I’m trying to visualize details, like if I’m giving someone directions and I need to walk my way through the route.
Perhaps you mean “patronising”?
I can picture what you’re talking about, but I don’t think that’s the only time people close their eyes when they’re talking, and I think the mannerisms associated are very different.
I know I close my eyes when I’m trying to recall a piece of information during a conversation, or when I’m trying to piece something together in my mind. I don’t know if I do it when I’m lecturing or being patronising; I guess I’ll have to pay more attention next time I’m doing that.
Well, it’s very few people out of all the people I ever speak with, so I’m more inclined it’s those few individuals who are uncomfortable with it for their own reeasons rather than for me “doing it for too long” in general. When I notice people reacting like that, I do change the way I interact with them to try and put them more at ease, but having a 20 minute conversation face-to-face and never looking directly at someone just feels odd to me.
I have a very shy friend who probably keeps her eyes shut for most of any conversation I have with her. It’s a little odd, but I’m used to it. More commonly, closing your eyes may help (or seem to help which, given the quirks of the human brain, is almost as good 
) you recall things that you don’t otherwise have on the tip of your tongue.
All I can say is, I know exactly what you’re talking about in that there’s about 2 or three people that I can think of that do this.
In the cases of the people I know, an additional physical descriptor is that the eye-closing isn’t so much “closing them with a look of squinty concentration”, as if they are trying to remember something, but rather a more alert look, with eyebrows arched and eyelids fully visible and flat/smooth. It seems to happen when they are slightly emphasizing a point or a contrasting point in the conversation. (is this consistent with your observations, those of you who have observed the phenomenon?)
In the case of one particular person, she is a chronic liar-backstabber-deceiver, and seems to do it when she is articulating some sort of lying powerplay. (Just one datapoint; not saying all of them do this).
I read somewhere that it is a strong indication of lying. The fact that my mother, while telling a known whopper, will shut her eyes every single time…backs it up on my end.
Come to think of it, I recall it being a “tell” in regards to lying. Similar to the “which direction you look” thing that says looking one way shows accessing memory, while looking another way shows making shit up. Sorry, no cite for either claim.
I don’t think it’s a consistent indicator of lying. It may be for specific individuals, but I’ve known too many people to do it when they’re clearly not lying for that to be the case.
Still, I can believe it’s an indicator of something, not a nervous tic like I originally surmised, but it would be of different things for different people.
Yeah. There are only two occasions when I do this. The first is that I often do this while trying to think while using a speech-to-text program; obviously no one else is there, so no one sees.
The other time I’ve done this is while trying not to lose my temper when speaking to difficult people at work. It’s easier to speak calmly to people being completely unreasonable if you can shut them out for a second.
God, I hate that rule. Now that everyone “knows” it I’m constantly paranoid about looking in the right direction in any situation where I might be under suspicion, which probably makes me seem like I’m lying 24/7.
My barber does this, but only when he’s shaking hands. It’s weird but he does a good job on my hair, so I’m assuming his eyes are open the rest of the time.
I do it to concentrate - I have ADD, and any distraction can knock me off course.
Plus, GuanoLad is ugly.
The eye closing comes at some kind of pronouncement, or important (to them) point. Closing the eyes turns the conversation from 2-way to 1-way. They are shutting themselves off from any visual cues from you (at least half of a conversation is visual) which might distract or interrupt them. What they are saying at that point is very important and interruption will not be allowed, or possible.