The Phenomenology of Zoom

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: This thesis involves a phenomenological analysis of Zoom, a currently popular videoconferencing technology, particularly engaging with the philosophers Don Ihde and Alfred Schutz. This thesis will show that the experience of direct connection via Zoom is characterized essentially by both the illusory sense of a shared environment and the accuracy of Zoom’s representations of participants, leading to many misperceptions and false experiences, as well as the constant breakdown of this illusion, wherein users gain awareness of the limits of Zoom, but in the process lose connection to others. The necessity of illusion in Zoom, this thesis argues, is a result of a fundamental material distance between participants that cannot be overcome by technology.

Type of resource	text
Date created	[ca. December 2020] - June 2021

Author	Evan Kim
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Symbolic Systems Program
Primary advisor	Bukatman, Scott
Advisor	Jackson, Gabrielle

Subject	zoom
Subject	videoconferencing
Subject	phenomenology
Subject	philosophy
Subject	technology
Subject	Don Ihde
Subject	Alfred Schutz
Subject	Symbolic Systems Department
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/wt914rs9753

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Kim, Evan. "The Phenomenology of Zoom". Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/wt914rs9753

Undergraduate Honors Theses, Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University

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