In this paper,I shed light on the digital co-presence in online university teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and its current discursivisation by students and teachers. Based on an interdisciplinary perspective which combines media theory, sociology, phenomenological and actor-network theory approaches, and drawing on my own observations, surveys at German universities, and statements from academics, I show how digital co-presence is produced by social practices and media dispositives. Furthermore, I point to perceived characteristics and effects of mediated presence, for example, on experiences of community and the self, and argue that perceptions of online teaching are subject to processes of habitualization and appropriation through strategies of making oneself at home. The experience of presence can, therefore, be seen as a culturally changing phenomenon.