Often I find myself automaticly responding to someone, mostly after a silence, which always takes my mind to a different place. I'm not really listening to them, but I seem to somehow still hear what sort of response they expect, and automaticly respond. They're mostly short responses like "yeah" or a fake laugh, only meant to make them feel like I'm listening (even though I'm pretty sure it's pretty clear to most of them that I'm not).
I want to able to tell my friends and family that I'm just not capable of always paying attention to them, and that they shouldn't always expect an answer. The problems is that I doubt that'll stop me from doing this, which is the reason I don't.

Does anyone else often finds himself automaticly responding to others?

Yeah thats what I do as well. I never really know what the person is saying but its almost the tone of their voice which lets me know what the proper response should be. I can force myself to listen tho because I hate letting people down. What I try and do is repeat what they say over in my mind so it sticks that way I am concentrating on the words they are saying.