Occasionally, individuals immersed in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment may experience distractions that disrupt their sense of presence, a phenomenon referred to as a break in presence (BIP). Better understanding BIPs is crucial to designing VR applications that keep their users present. BIPs have been studied using a variety of methods, exploring their origins or trying to detect them from physiological or behavioral measurements. However, despite the importance of understanding how they are actually lived and managed by VR users, very few studies focused on their phenomenological characterization. We employed micro-phenomenology to collect the descriptions of BIPs experienced by users (n=14) of a height exposure VR application. We precisely modeled 57 BIP episodes, bringing to light a variety of experiences and behaviors. Four generic diachronic patterns of BIP episodes emerge: reflected-upon, discarded, self-preservation, and contradictory mediation BIPs. We discuss these in light of the PI/Psi model of presence, propose an awareness-based definition of BIPs, as well as three BIP-related design opportunities.

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