Students’ social media engagement and fear of missingout (FoMO) in a diverse classroom

Dorit Alt1

Published online: 24 May 2017

� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017

Abstract With the growing attention paid to fear of missing out (FoMO) psycho-

logical phenomenon in explaining social media engagement (SME), this mixed-

method research measured the relative impact of FoMO on students’ SME for

personal reasons during lectures. The moderating effect of culture (minority vs. non-

minority students) on the connection between FoMO and SME was also considered.

Quantitative data were gathered from 279-undergraduate students. The structural

equation modeling results showed a positive moderate connection between the

FoMO and SME variables. The bootstrapping result showed a significant indirect

effect between the minority group of students and SME through increased levels of

FoMO. A sequential explanatory strategy was used to refine and interpret the

quantitative results. Accordingly, qualitative data were gathered by using semi-

structured interviews to assist in explaining the findings of the quantitative phase.

The qualitative data suggested several explanations for students’ distractive

behavior enabled by technology during class. The main recurrent theme was the

frequently used instructional activities based on the teacher-centered pedagogical

approach. This approach imposed greater challenges for minority students as they

tend to grapple with a host of language barriers. These students reported using social

media tools to seek help from friends during lectures and feared missing out a useful

assistance. Another finding showed that mainly non-minority students who expe-

rienced FoMO admitted using social media during lessons regardless of the teaching

method implemented.

Keywords Social media engagement � Fear of missing out � Mixed-method study �Diverse classroom

& Dorit Alt

dorita@kinneret.ac.il

1 Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Jordan Valley, Israel

123

J Comput High Educ (2017) 29:388–410

DOI 10.1007/s12528-017-9149-x

Introduction

Millennial students are described as having a focus on social interaction and

connectedness with others by using social media-enabled devices (McMahon and

Pospisil 2005). While these devices might play an important role in keeping college

students connected to family and friends (Gemmill and Peterson 2006) some

researchers and faculty view them as a distractor (Galagan 2010). Their main

premise is that multitasking on a laptop poses a significant distraction to both users

and fellow students and may negatively affect students’ achievement and

satisfaction with their education when not used for learning purposes during class

(Kraushaar and Novak 2010; Wood et al. 2012; Wurst et al. 2008).

Several studies linked this behavior in the classroom to a currently suggested

psychological phenomenon of fear of missing out (FoMO) (Alt 2015). This

phenomenon is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what

others are doing and is especially associated with social media technologies which

provide constant opportunity for comparison of one’s status (Przybylski et al. 2013).

However, despite increased interest in and writing about students’ social media

engagement (SME) for personal reasons during class and its negative effect on

students’ achievement (Juncoa and Cotten 2012; Kraushaar and Novak 2010; Wood

et al. 2012; Wurst et al. 2008), very little is empirically known about its precursors.

This study used a sequential explanatory strategy to refine and interpret the

quantitative data gathered, including SME for personal reasons during classes,

FoMO, and a contextual factor of cultural group (minority and non-minority student

groups). The purpose of this design is to use qualitative results to assist in

explaining the findings of the initial quantitative phase. This study could reveal

further precursors, other than psychological, that might explain technology-enabled

disruptive behaviors in classes, and thus might encourage a future discussion related

to millennials’ engagement in current higher education diverse learning

environments.

Literature review

Social media engagement

Millennial students are students entering college after the year 2000 (Howe and

Strauss 2000). The unique characteristics attributed typically to millennial students

are an information technology mindset and a highly developed skill in multitasking

(McMahon and Pospisil 2005). Millennial students have adapted to continuous

multitasking by using social media utilities which afford easy access to real-time

information about the activities, events, and conversations happening across diverse

social networks (Przybylski et al. 2013). These utilities have become important for

keeping strong ties with friends and to strengthen ties with new acquaintances

(Acquisti and Gross 2006; Ellison et al. 2007).

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While social media might play an important role in keeping college students

connected to family and friends (Gemmill and Peterson 2006) some faculty view

technology, and particularly social media as a distractor (Galagan 2010). Sana et al.

(2013) note that in university classroom environments, the presumed primary tasks

are to consolidate information spoken by the instructor, take notes, and ask or

respond to questions. If a task that is irrelevant to the learning context is introduced,

attention must shift back and forth between primary and secondary tasks, thereby

taxing attentional resources. This multitasking can have negative long-term effects

on ‘‘declarative memory’’ the kind of focused recall that lets people characterize and

use what they learned from earlier studying (Ophira et al. 2009).

Indeed, laptops have been shown to assist learning through active approaches to

teaching and promotion of academic success (Lindorth and Bergquist 2010) and

social media offers opportunities to develop a stronger sense of community among

students, satisfaction, motivation, and engagement among students when used for

academic purposes (Arnold and Paulus 2010; Jones et al. 2010; Top 2012).

However, when not used for academic purposes, ubiquitous laptop usage may

negatively affect students’ achievement (Kraushaar and Novak 2010) and satisfac-

tion with their education (Wurst et al. 2008).

Wood et al. (2012) have examined the impact of multitasking with digital

technologies while attempting to learn from real-time classroom lectures in a

university setting. Four digitally-based multi-tasking activities (texting using a

cell phone, emailing, MSN messaging and Facebook) were compared to three

control groups (paper-and-pencil note-taking, word-processing note-taking and a

case of academic use of technology condition) over three consecutive lectures.

Comparisons indicated that participants in the Facebook and MSN conditions

performed more poorly than those in the paper-and-pencil use control. Follow-up

analyses indicated that participants who did not use any technologies in the lectures

outperformed students who used some form of technology. In a similar vein, Juncoa

and Cotten (2012) examined how the use of Facebook and other ICT tools, while

trying to complete schoolwork, was associated with college students’ grade point

averages (GPA). Students reported frequently searching for content not related to

courses, using Facebook, emailing, talking on their cell phones, and texting while

doing schoolwork. Regression analyses revealed that these behaviors were

negatively associated with overall college GPA. The researchers concluded that

engaging in social media tools while trying to complete schoolwork, may ‘‘tax

students’ capacity for cognitive processing and preclude deeper learning’’ (p. 505).

However, it should be noted that experimental designs are susceptible to bias due to

incompletely controlled conditions, such as environmental (Seltman 2015).

Fear of missing out and social media engagement

Increased social media use among university students has recently raised

awareness about a new phenomenon termed fear of missing out (FoMO) (Alt

2015). This phenomenon has been defined as an anxiety, whereby one is

compulsively concerned that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction,

a rewarding experience, profitable investment or other satisfying events (Anderson

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2011; Kellner 2013). FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually

connected with what others are doing and is especially associated with social

media technologies which provide constant opportunity for comparison of one’s

status (Przybylski et al. 2013).

Przybylski et al. (2013) have associated FoMO with deficits in psychological

needs. Their study’s results indicated that individuals who evidenced less

satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence (efficacy), autonomy

(meaningful choice), and relatedness (connectedness to others) also reported

higher levels of FoMO and increased behavioral engagement with social media. A

recent study (Alt 2015) assessed the assumption that low levels of basic need

satisfaction may relate to FoMO and SME. Data were gathered from undergrad-

uate students. Path analysis results have confirmed the assumption that extrinsi-

cally and a-motivated students would be more likely to use social media tools

available in the classroom. However, when those links were mediated by the

FoMO variable, insignificant direct relations between the above academic

motivations and SME were shown. Thus, both motivational variables were

positively associated with FoMO, which in turn led to increased levels of SME in

the classroom. The author maintains that these findings illustrate the robust

mediating role of FoMO in explaining SME. FoMO and SME were also assessed

with relation to college students well-being constructs (Alt 2016). The study was

aimed at assessing the assumption that maladjustment to college could lead some

toward excessive SME during class. Moreover, the mediating role of FoMO in

linking maladjustment to college life to SME was examined for the first time. Path

analysis results showed that the maladjustment to college variable is linked to

social media use only insofar as it is linked to FoMO. This study lends credence

to previous work by showing the robust mediating role of FoMO in explaining

social media use during lectures.

With relation to student characteristics, both studies showed a positive link

between the non-Jewish student group and FoMO, which in turn led to an excessive

use of social media tools during class time. In those studies, the non-Jewish group

reported having an increased level of a-motivation for learning and low

socioeconomic status. The suggested explanation for those findings was focused

on the precursor of FoMO, namely a-motivation for learning. Parental pressure,

related to the economic burden placed on minority parents who support their

children through their bachelor’s degree, was raised as a possible explanation for

a-motivation for learning. The author’s main premise was that students’ excessive

concern for parental financial support might impact their well-being, personal

involvement in and responsibility for learning. Another explanation provided by the

author was related to the collectivist orientation of the Arab society (Alt and Geiger

2012). This structure may impact the individual desire to stay continually connected

with what his or her relatives are doing. It is noteworthy that the above-mentioned

inferences, based on familial and social aspects, were not supported by qualitative

data. Moreover, other explanations that might be linked to the class level were

overlooked, despite the context in which FoMO and SME were investigated—

higher education learning environments.

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In this context, it is worthwhile to understand the academic challenges minority

students encounter upon accessing higher education. It should be noted that the

transition to college for minority students living in the periphery of Israel, such as

Palestinian-Arabs, was accompanied by scant research on how those students

experience this process, and the challenges it might encompass for non-Hebrew

speakers. For minority students, Hebrew is usually the third language following

Spoken Arabic (spoken at home and in the Arab public education system in Israel)

and Literary Arabic (studied in Arab schools) (Hai 2012). These challenges, which

might lead to insufficient academic skills (Choi and Ziegler 2015), are not limited to

minorities living in Israel. With the growing attention paid to international

migration, issues of integration and adaptation of foreigners have emerged as being

crucial for the immigrants and the host society (Dixon and Wu 2014). Linguistic

integration and mastery of literacy skills in the language(s) of the host country are

considered a key element among many success factors in integration. Without

adequate levels of literacy (i.e., the ability to communicate, read and write in the

language(s) of the country of destination), it is very hard to receive further education

(Choi and Ziegler 2015). Academic studies are perceived to be a primary means of

social mobility and a key element in the development of each population group, and

of economies and the social cohesion of nations. Therefore, delving deeper into

newly discovered psychological and behavioral phenomena that might illuminate

aspects related to academic skills of those population groups might provide useful

tools for faculty to enhance those students’ chances to excel in academia.

This study

Based on the above studies, the present research seeks to measure the relative

impact of the FoMO psychological factor on students’ SME during class. The

examined factors will be regressed on several student personal characteristic

variables in order to assess how these variables may contribute the measured

factors. The research presented in this article is focused on the following

hypothesis: (H1) FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected

with what others are doing and is especially associated with social media

technologies (Alt 2015; Przybylski et al. 2013), therefore, the FoMO factor is

expected to be positively connected to SME during class.

Moreover, given the exploratory nature of this study, a sequential explanatory

strategy was used (Creswell 2003). Quantitative data were collected and analyzed

followed by the collection and analysis of qualitative data. Thus, the results of the

quantitative data analysis were used to inform the subsequent qualitative phase. The

rationale for this approach is that the quantitative results reveal a general picture of

the phenomenon under research; qualitative data are therefore needed to refine and

interpret the general picture. This mixed-method study builds upon the synergy that

exists between the qualitative/quantitative research continuum thus allowing to

expand the understanding of a newly explored phenomenon. Creswell (2002)

emphasized the superiority of mixed-method research designs in exploratory

research: ‘‘investigators could improve their inquiries by collecting and converging

(or integrating) different kinds of data bearing on the same phenomenon. This

392 D. Alt

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improvement will come from blending the strength of one type of method and

neutralizing the weaknesses of the other’’ (p. 561). The strength of this design is that

it combines the advantages of each method, quantitative data allow for general-

izability whereas qualitative data offer information about the context.

Based on the quantitative data analysis, the main aim of the qualitative research

was to understand the robust connection between the minority student group and the

SME factors via the FoMO variable. A secondary aim was to reveal further

explanations to SME for personal reasons during lectures among all participants.

Method

Quantitative research

Participants

Data were gathered from 279 undergraduate students (17% males and 83% females)

from one major college located in Israel. The distribution regarding ethnicity was:

65.3% Jewish students, 24.8% Muslim students, 8.4% Christian students, and 1.5%

Druze students, with a mean age of 24.3 (SD = 4.27) years. The distribution

regarding the year of study was: 17.4% first-year students, 52.9% second-year

students and 29.7% third-year students. The participants’ faculty enrollment

breakdown was as follows: Education—37.2%, Criminology—16%, Sociology—

9.5%, Management—17.9%, Economics—8.4%, Engineering—7.3%, Behavioral

Science—3.7%.

Differences between the Jewish and non-Jewish students were found with

relation to the following variables:

1. Age (t(275) = 8.56; p\ .001), non-Jewish students were found significantly

younger (M = 21.96, SD = 2.69) than the Jewish students (M = 25.61,

SD = 4.43).

2. Current education achievements (GPA) (t(277) = 7.19; p\ .001), non-Jewish

students were found significantly lower (M = 4.78, SD = 1.18) than the Jewish

students (M = 5.87, SD = 1.22).

3. Students’ mothers’ educational attainment (t(277) = 3.94; p\ .001), non-Jewish

students were found significantly lower (M = 2.08, SD = .94) than the Jewish

students (M = 2.53, SD = .91).

Data analysis

Structural equation modeling and principal component analysis were employed to

empirically test the structural validity of the current research scales. Data used for

the SEM were analyzed with the maximum likelihood method. Three fit indices

were computed in order to evaluate model fit: v2(df) (p[ .05), the Comparative Fit

Students’ social media engagement and fear of missing… 393

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Index (CFI should be [.90), the Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation

(RMSEA should be\.08) (Bentler 2006).

Instrumentation

Student characteristics

Data were gathered using a questionnaire aimed at measuring the student’s cultural

group, gender, age, socioeconomic status (SES), year of study, and current

education achievements. SES was assessed by the student’s father’s educational

attainment (FEA) and mother’s educational attainment (MEA), both defined on a

six-level scale from 0 = lack of education, to 5 = doctoral degree. Another SES

factor was the participants’ report on their current economic condition (EC), defined

on a six-level scale from 1 = extremely difficult to 6 = comfortable, no financial

worries. Finally, students’ current education achievements were measured by their

self-reported grade point average (GPA).

Social media engagement (SME) questionnaire

This 10-item scale (Alt 2015) was designed to measure the extent to which students

used social media in the classroom. The scale includes three sub-factors:

1. Social engagement—refers to sharing individual or social information with the

close social environment, such as family and friends, using social media sites

(e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram).

2. News information engagement—includes activities with relation to news, for

example, responding to alerts or getting updates via social media sites.

3. Commercial information engagement—pertains to activities, such as getting or

sharing updates (e.g. current discounts/sales, available coupons) via social

media sites.

Table 1 shows the factors and item descriptions. All items were scored on a

Likert-type score ranging from 1 = never to 5 = always. Students were asked: ‘to

what extent do you do the following activities by using your laptop computer or

mobile phone during class’. Students were also asked whether the above activities

were used during class for learning purposes. It should be noted that as reported by

the students, none of the activities was requested for these purposes.

All items were subjected to principal component analysis followed by Varimax

rotation with eigenvalue[1.00 as a criterion for determining the number of factors.

The analysis resulted in the above-indicated three factors, which accounted for

78.07% of the variance (item loadings[.40). Item loading results are provided in

Table 2. Item SME5 was omitted due to a low item loading result (\.40) on the

news information engagement factor. (Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .86 to .89).

394 D. Alt

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Fear of missing out scale (FoMOs)

This 18-item scale (Alt 2015; Przybylski et al. 2013) was designed to measure the

extent to which people feared missing out on rewarding experiences, activities, and

methods of discourse, with regard to three factors: (1) social activities (ten items),

for example: ‘I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me’;

(2) news information (four items) measures the extent to which people feared

Table 1 The SME questionnaire: factors and item descriptions

Factor Item

Social engagement 1 Reading updates about what is happening with others (e.g., your friends

or family members) by using social media sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter,

Whatsapp, Instagram)

2 Updating personal information on social media sites

3 Responding to social or personal updates of others (e.g., your friends or

family members) on social media sites

4 Holding conversations (chats) with others (e.g., your friends or family

members) on social media sites

News information

engagement

5 Reading news updates via social media sites (was omitted)

6 Responding to news information (e.g. by talkbacks) via social media sites

7 Sharing news alerts via social media sites

Commercial information

engagement

8 Buying ‘‘on sale’’ products via social media sites

9 Sharing commercial updates via social media sites

10 Reading commercial updates (e.g. current discounts/sales, available

coupons) via social media sites

Table 2 Item loading results of the principal component analysis for the SME questionnaire

Social engagement News information engagement Commercial information engagement

SME1 .859

SME4 .858

SME3 .847

SME2 .687 .481

SME5 .635

SME8 .875

SME9 .818

SME10 .651 .435

SME6 .869

SME7 .813

Students’ social media engagement and fear of missing… 395

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missing out news information, for example: ‘it bothers me when my friends know

what’s happening on the news ahead of me’; (3) commercial information (four

items) assesses the extent to which people feared missing out commercial

information, for example: ‘when I go on vacation, it is important to me to continue

following commercial information (e.g. current discounts/sales, available coupons)’

(Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .71 to .88). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to

verify the scale structure, yielding sufficient fit results (v2 = 194.126, df = 70,

p = .000; CFI = .936; RMSEA = .079). The overall scale included 14 items (four

items were removed from the scale due to a low item loading result [\.40]), scored

on a five-point Likert scale from 1 = not at all true of me to 5 = extremely true of

me.

Procedure

The scales were administered to the participants at the end of their courses. The

students were told that the purpose of the study was to examine their activities

during lectures. Prior to obtaining participants’ consent, it was specified that the

questionnaires were anonymous and that no pressure would be applied should they

choose to return the questionnaire unfilled or incomplete. Finally, participants were

assured that no specific identifying information about the courses would be

processed.

Qualitative research

Qualitative data were gathered by individual semi-structured interviews in order to

reveal student’s subjective experiences and attitudes (Perakyla 2008). Ethical

principles regarding research with human participants were implemented. The

interviews were conducted with each student. The students were asked the following

open-ended questions: ‘‘are you using social media tools during lectures’’; ‘‘can you

explain your behavior’’. The following process involved examining the gathered

data and generating themes from the data (Creswell 2002). Common themes were

inductively drawn from the interviews. Participants were extensively quoted to

support the validity of the inductively drawn themes and the reliability of the

findings (Patton 2002).

Participants

Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10% of the research

participants in order to explore the quantitative research results and expand our

understanding of the data. Students interviewed were 10 minority students and 16

Jewish students.

396 D. Alt

123

Results

Quantitative results

According to the descriptive statistics of the research factors provided in Table 3,

the highest mean results were shown for social related activities in both FoMO and

SME scales and relatively lower mean results were indicated for news information

and commercial information related factors of the scales.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the connections

between the factors, in line with the theoretical model and the hypothesis of this

study.

Model 1 (Fig. 1) includes the FoMO factor with its three sub-factors, and the

SME latent factor accompanied by its three observed variables. Further, in order to

measure how several personal characteristic variables intersect and may contribute

the assessed factors the cultural group variable (Jewish students = 1, minority

students = 2) was entered into the model. The cultural group dummy variable was

created due to insignificant differences between the non-Jewish groups (Muslim,

Christian, and Druze) on the dependent variables. This variable was entered into the

analysis based on regression analyses, in which the FoMO and SME factors were

separately entered as dependent variables, and the following student characteristic

variables were entered into the analyses as independent variables: cultural group,

gender, age, year of study, FEA, MEA, EC, and GPA (a summary of stepwise

regression analyses is provided in Table 4). According to the analyses, merely the

cultural group variable was found significant in explaining the dependent variables,

therefore was entered into Model 1. Sufficient fit results were shown for Model 1

(v2 = 583.742, df = 239, p = .000; CFI = .912; RMSEA = .072). It can be

learned from the results that the cultural group variable (minority students) was

found positively connected to FoMO (b = .51, p\ .001), whereas insignificant

coefficient was found between the cultural group and SME variables. According to

the bootstrapping result, the indirect effect between the cultural group and SME

factors through FoMO was significant (p = .001). The results indicated a positive

Table 3 Descriptive statistics of the research factors

Research variable Mean SD Range

SME1 2.65 1.01 4.00

SME2 1.90 .95 4.00

SME3 1.81 .89 4.00

FO1 2.68 .65 3.78

FO2 2.21 .77 3.67

FO3 2.01 .90 4.00

SME1 = Social engagement; SME2 = News information engagement; SME3 = Commercial informa-

tion engagement; FO1 = FoMO social events; FO2 = FoMO news; FO3 = FoMO

commercial information

Students’ social media engagement and fear of missing… 397

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moderate connection between FoMO and SME (b = .56, p\ .001). The FoMO

factor explained 31% of the SME variance.

Qualitative results

The purpose of this stage was to explain the findings of the quantitative data.

Qualitative data were needed to interpret the minority group variable connection to

SME via FoMO, as indicated by the empirical model. Moreover, the quantitative

results revealed that students use social media tools during lectures, mostly for

social reasons, and that the FoMO factor explained only 31% of the SME variance.

Based on these results, an interesting question that warranted attention was: what

Table 4 Summary of stepwise regression analyses

Model Independent variables B SE. B b F R2 Dependent

variables

1 Cultural group (minority students) .57 .08 .424*** 56.38*** .18 FoMO

2 Cultural group (minority students) .43 .10 .254** 17.75*** .07 SME

p\ .01**; p\ .001***

Fig. 1 Model 1 with standardized parameter estimates (N = 279)

398 D. Alt

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other explanations for using social media tools during lectures may arise from

students’ reports. Analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed three main

themes: Instructional activities (lecture-based setting), language barriers, and

FoMO. Moreover, ineffective classroom management, and learning disabilities have

also emerged by the interviewees as precursors of their SME in the classroom.

Instructional activities (lecture-based setting)

The lecture-based setting emerged as a recurrent theme in the students’ interviews,

minority and non-minority alike. This setting was perceived by the participants as

‘‘boring’’ and ‘‘unchallenging’’. Practices associated with the student-centered

approach such as class discussions, active participations of the students, questions

and answers, seem to be neglected in these learning environments:

When there are in-class discussions and students are more active, I hardly surf

the Internet, but when I passively sit in a boring lesson in which I am not

required to take part, I would look at the Facebook and other social sites to

catch up. (Minority male student, second year)

The material is usually uploaded to the course portal on PowerPoint presentations

from which the teacher often reads during the lesson. Students are required to attend

those classes wherein they passively absorb the information. The students do not

expect to learn from the lecturers, they rather later learn the material by themselves

at home. This course type leads some toward searching for something more

interesting than what they are doing by using social media tools. In the words of the

interviewees:

I use Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram. To tell you the truth, before entering

college, I did not use these tools; I had negative thoughts about these tools. But

then I had experienced a very boring lesson. Some were playing Candy Crash;

others were on the Facebook—communicating with other classmates. I had no

choice, I wanted to get involved in what they are doing and ‘kill the time’.

There are many courses like these in which attendance is required, so there is

no choice, you have to attend these classes. During these lessons, the teacher

reads from the PowerPoint slides and speaks in a monotone voice which is far

from being interesting. The presentations used during classes are eventually

uploaded to the course portal, so it doesn’t worth bothering. During those

lectures, I do many other things as well, I surely use class time efficiently, I

work on my seminars duties for example. I am definitely not in the class.

(Jewish female student, third year)

The following argument indicates that students show interest mainly in classes

they find interesting or relevant to their major:

There are some lessons during which I do not use social media; these are the

important courses, the challenging and interesting ones. The teacher makes it

interesting; it is easy to stay focused. At other courses, I surely use social

media tools. I am fully aware of the fact that this behavior deflects my

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attention away from learning. I think that the main reason for using these tools

is boredom. At times, there are courses that are less relevant to my major or

courses including material I am already familiar with, in these cases I learn the

material by myself, at home, it is very easy to understand by myself what has

been taught in class. (Jewish female student, second year)

Based on the traditional approach, it seems that the lecturers fail to ascertain their

students’ prior knowledge and teach accordingly. They do not strive to understand

the student’s mental structures, thus unable to clarify incomplete or erroneous prior

knowledge. Students with less prior knowledge might ask more questions and need

scaffoldings during the learning process. However, the teacher acts as a knowledge

conduit and encourages rote learning, rather than guiding students to reflect on their

own learning processes, as can be learned from the following descriptions:

I frequently use social media during lectures. I think that it is linked to the

lecture design. There are some teachers who do not make a special effort in

explaining the material. They assume that I have a relevant prior knowledge.

Others give you the impression that they are not specialized in the realm of

content. I have once asked the teacher to explain a certain difficult sentence I

did not understand, and the teacher slowly repeated the sentence from the

slide. I realized that I have no one to turn to in order to understand the material

taught, finally, I have lost interest in the lesson, I can read the presentation by

myself. (Jewish female student, third year)

When there are no discussions, I would use the smartphone for those purposes

[SME]. I expect the teacher to develop the lecture and use the format of

questions and answers; I do not need someone to read me the text. When the

lecture is engaging, I would tend to refrain from using social networks, unless

I had a message from my family, in such cases, I have to be available. (Jewish

female student, first year)

The following example reflects the superiority of summative assessment

methodologies used, designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability or

ranking. The students are encouraged to use unreflective approaches to learning,

they are not required to elaborated on facts, nor do they asked to interact with

content or ideas. They are directed to simply reproduce ideas and pass the exams.

Therefore, the students concentrate only on what is required for assessment, use rote

learning, and have extrinsic motivation for learning:

Lots of teachers actually read the material from the slides, so basically you can

learn the material by yourself, without the teacher. I regret to say, but we study

to pass the exams. My main goal is to have a degree. M.A. studies require high

scores, nobody is interested in what you really know, so if this is the case, why

do I need to bother? I just need to pass the exams with a high score. (Jewish

female student, third year)

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Language barriers

The above-described traditional-based learning environment seems to impose

greater challenges for minority students as they grapple with a host of language

barriers. The lack of proficiency in Hebrew was a consideration weighing heavily in

the minority students’ accounts for using social media tools during lectures.

According to the students’ reports, social media tools were often used to receive

assistance from classmates in order to enhance their ability to understand the

material or for social support, as described by the participants:

The most important obstacle or barrier that stands between me and a full

concentration during lectures is language. The official language used in

colleges is Hebrew. Most teachers use an academic language, much more

complicated than the Hebrew I use and understand. (Minority female student

second year)

During the lesson I fail tracking the teacher; I cannot listen to the lecture and

keep notes at the same time. The language is very difficult for me to

understand, moreover, it is hard to stay in focus for such a long period. That is

why I enter the Facebook for a few minutes; it feels like taking a break during

the lesson. (Minority female student second year)

Others reported feeling uncomfortable or ‘‘ashamed’’ to ask for the teacher’s

help. They felt that by doing so they interrupt or halt the flow of the lesson. To

overcome this obstacle they seek for other students’ assistance during the lecture via

social media tools. In the words of the interviewees:

It is my second year of studies. It is a bit easier for me this year. But during the

first year, it was extremely difficult. All the teachers were speaking extremely

fast and I did not understand almost a word of what they were saying. So many

words I did not recognize. I had to ask students to help me out. All around

were new students, so I felt ashamed to ask for help. Sometimes I tried to ask

for the teachers’ help, they had complied but I often felt that they were angry

with me. One teacher told me once that ‘‘you should read more respectful

newspapers’’ to elaborate my vocabulary. I felt really uncomfortable. So, I tell

you frankly, this year I use Facebook and WhatsApp when I’m in lectures to

communicate with my friends during the lesson. I know that many of them are

having problems in understanding the material, so we help each other and

sometimes encourage each other and laugh about it. I am lucky to have some

Jewish friends this year who gladly help me. But yet, they cannot help me all

the time, face-to-face, during lessons, so I send them messages via the

WhatsApp, but it is still very difficult for me, not all of them respond on time.

I do everything possible to succeed, I really try, but it is hard to follow the

teacher speaking so fast. At times, I ask for the lesson summary from one of

my classmates, so I can quit following the teacher and use the Facebook

during the lectures. I think that it is also good for the teachers, I do not bother

them with my inappropriate questions to clarify words I do not understand.

(Minority female student second year)

Students’ social media engagement and fear of missing… 401

123

Minority students seem to lack sufficient literacy skills, which enable students to

read, write and think independently. These skills are essential for students’ success.

Those students find the off-class learning strategies more useful, and use class time

for SME practices:

I am in the Facebook during most of the lessons because the language spoken

is not my mother tongue; I have difficulties with the Hebrew spoken by the

teacher. I have to attend those lessons, that is the reason I am here. When I

listen to the teacher, I cannot write down a thing, because I cannot understand

new materials taught and summarize the lectures at the same time in Hebrew. I

believe that next year I will be more able to do so. Some teachers upload the

lectures, and other materials needed for the exams, to the MOODLE. There

are some Jewish friends who take notes during the lessons, and they later

email me the lecture summaries by the end of the course. (Minority female

student first year)

Fear of missing out

In their desire to never miss out on anything that might be relevant to them, some

students, mainly non-minority, end up unable to ignore what’s going on with their

family and friends, or on the news. The following interviewees’ descriptions

exemplify this theme:

I have to admit that I am a very active user of social media. As a member of

multiple social groups, I instinctively look for updates as soon as I see the red

on-screen alert. During lessons, my friends have the possibility to commu-

nicate, and out of curiosity, I need to pay attention to what’s going on as a

member of the group. (Jewish male student, second year)

I need to stay in touch with my family and get information from my

workplace, cannot miss that. (Jewish male student, second year)

I am a mother to three children, working and studying for a degree, and during

class, I can catch up with what is going on outside the classroom. (Jewish

female student, second year)

The lecture may be perceived by students experiencing FoMO as highly

interesting; however, the desire to stay continually connected with what others are

doing distracts them from focusing their attention on learning during class time.

They describe their social engagement as a ‘force of habit’:

I have to admit that even during a highly interesting lecture I cannot quit

getting information from those sites. Maybe I am doing it from force of habit.

During most of the day, my friends communicate with me via those tools. As

for the lectures, most of the material is available on the portal, I can also get it

from a friend, that is why I do not feel stressed by the fact that I might miss a

few lectures, one can always catch up. (Jewish female student, second year)

There are some highly interesting lectures, and even when the teacher dictates

in a rapid pace that does not spare me too much time to get lost in the network,

I still find the time to catch up. (Jewish male student, second year)

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I get updates in every lesson, it can be the most interesting lecture, I glimpse at

least once at my cell phone, and frequently get into my Facebook account, surf

the internet and search for sports news; I don’t want to miss a thing. (Minority

male student third year)

When the group sees that you are available and online, everybody starts

chatting, when this happens ‘‘the sky is the limit’’. Chats linger, and before

you notice the lesson ends up. (Jewish female student, first year)

The following two themes have also emerged from the interviews. In line with

the secondary aim of the qualitative phase, the following themes will be briefly

presented, as they might reveal further explanations for SME for personal reasons

during lectures among the participants.

Ineffective classroom management

This theme pertains to insufficient classroom conduct management. According to

the interviewees, some teachers lack the set of skills teachers should employ when

addressing discipline problems in the classroom. The students stressed that conduct

management is essential for creating an orderly environment in which they can

concentrate on the learning material:

Sometimes the class is getting noisy, for example, students talk to each other,

and then I might lose focus. In such cases, I would turn to social media. But,

when order is maintained in the classroom, I can stay focused throughout the

whole lesson. (Minority female student, third year)

An important aspect of classroom management deals with the problems that can

come with large classes which make it hard for teachers to manage the classroom

and guide students’ learning. These classes also upset students who struggle to keep

up and concentrate in class. In this case, the physical conditions might reduce their

ability to focus their attention on primary tasks:

The number of students per class is extremely high, it takes a lot of effort to

concentrate, so I usually take the back seat, and get updates from social media

sites, catch up with what’s going on there, and upload information. (Minority

female student, second year)

Some instructors do not appropriately address discipline problems and fail to

effectively deal with students’ misbehavior during lectures, which often interferes

with the ability of others to stay focused. In such cases, some students would prefer

‘‘wandering the Web and social networks’’ than struggling to pay attention to the

teacher. In the words of the interviewees:

I tend to use social media tools during classes when the noise is unbearable. I

usually sit in the front row, because noise affects my concentration.

Unfortunately, at some classes, the lecturer is unable or unwilling to stop

the noise. In addition, courses taught at late hours affect my ability to stay in

Students’ social media engagement and fear of missing… 403

123

the loop. In summary, it depends on the lecturer and the learning environment.

If there is no learning atmosphere and the lecturer is not interesting, or

disciplinarian, it may lead toward wandering the Web and social networks.

(Jewish female student, third year)

Learning disabilities

Learning disabilities and attention problems were additional themes emerging from

the students’ interviews. According to the reports, some students struggle to pay

attention, stay focused and deeply understand the material during lectures. However,

due to their learning disabilities, such as attention dispersion or concentration

problems, they tend to give up and talk to their classmates, or use ‘‘the most

available object to play with’’. In the words of some of the students:

I avoid looking at my cell phone during the lesson; I might look at newly

received messages, but would not reply. I love being a student and appreciate

the opportunity given to me. Yet, I have several learning disabilities and I

strive to deeply understand the material rather than memorizing it. Therefore, I

realize my weaknesses and do not bring my laptop to classes, so I wound not

be tempted to enter social media sites. I have to admit that I fail to stay alerted

during some lessons, there are teachers who are boring. It takes a special effort

not to glimpse at the screen of the cell phone, yet in these cases I’d rather talk

to a classmate instead. (Jewish female student, third year).

Due to learning disabilities and attention dispersion, I have a desire to do

something else during lectures; the most available object to play with is the

cell phone. (Minority female student, third year)

Discussion

This mixed-method research measured the relative impact of the FoMO psycho-

logical factor on students’ SME during class. Both factors were regressed on several

student personal characteristic variables in order to assess their impact on the

measured factors. Qualitative data were used to assist in explaining the findings of

the quantitative phase. Quantitative data results showed a positive moderate

connection between FoMO and SME, meaning that in university traditional

classroom environments the interaction with others, by using social media utilities,

is enhanced by FoMO to some extent (the FoMO variable explained merely 31% of

the SME variance in the SEM model).

With regard to personal characteristic variables, the minority group of non-

Jewish students was found positively connected to FoMO. According to the

bootstrapping result, a significant indirect effect was found between this group and

SME through increased FoMO. In line with the results, it can be inferred that FoMO

plays a mediating role in explaining SME of minority students, in accordance with

previous findings (Alt 2015). However, it is equally plausible to assume that the

cultural group factor plays a moderating role in the empirical model. Thus the

404 D. Alt

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relationship between FoMO and SME is not constant but depends on the values of

the moderator variable.

Two main questions have been propounded following the quantitative research

results, first, is there an explanation for the minority group variable significant

indirect connection to SME via FoMO, as indicated by the empirical model. Second,

what other explanations for using social media tools during lectures may exist. The

results foregrounded five categories explaining SME during class as described by

students. Three categories were associated with the first question: Instructional

activities (lecture-based setting), language barriers, and FoMO. Two additional

themes were related to the second question: Ineffective classroom management, and

learning disabilities.

The lecture-based setting emerged as a recurrent theme in the students’

interviews, minority and non-minority alike. This setting was perceived by the

participants as ‘‘boring’’ and ‘‘unchallenging’’. The material is usually uploaded to

the course portal on PowerPoint presentations from which the teacher often reads

during the lesson. This approach seems to fail ascertaining students’ prior

knowledge and teaching accordingly and favors summative assessment method-

ologies. A lecture type course is designed to expedite the transmission of knowledge

to large numbers of students. The teacher speaks to the students most of the time

(Kiraly 2014). This type of learning environment is associated with the traditional

instruction, or back-to-basics, which means following traditional teacher-centered

methods. This ‘‘boring’’ and ‘‘unchallenging’’ instructional approach leads some

students, according to their reports, to increased use of social media tools available

in order to ‘‘use class time efficiently’’ or to ‘‘kill the time’’. According to their

reports, students prefer studying the material taught in class on their own and

perceive this lecture-based setting, in which the lecturer reads off the material from

PowerPoint presentations, as a waste of time.

The content analysis revealed that lack of proficiency in Hebrew was a recurrent

explanation of minority students for using social media tools to receive assistance

from classmates in order to enhance their ability to understand the material. The

traditional-based learning environment thus seems to impose greater challenges for

minority students as they grapple with a host of language barriers. Faced with the

learners’ diversity, teachers seem to fail to employ in-class strategies that cater for

their students’ diverse needs. Minority students encounter difficulties as they are

streamed into higher ability groups of Hebrew speakers. For those students, Hebrew

is usually the third language following Spoken Arabic and Literary Arabic (Hai

2012). It may be inferred that some minority students use social media networks to

obtain social and academic support. This can also explain their increased level of

FoMO apparent in the quantitative data results. It may be implied that some

minority students are unable to ignore what’s going on with their friends during

lectures and might feel compelled to help them or seek for assistance. In such cases,

students might fear missing out the opportunity to assist other students by using

social media tools or to get help from others, and this may lead to an excessive use

of social media tools during class.

FoMO also emerged from the qualitative analysis as an account for technology-

enabled behavior during lectures. Their desire to never miss out on anything that

Students’ social media engagement and fear of missing… 405

123

may be relevant to them, led some students to stay continually connected with what

others are doing, regardless of their level of interest in the lecture. This account was

more frequently used by the non-minority interviewees. It may be plausible to infer

that FoMO and SME are differently interpreted by students with different academic

needs. Minority students’ desire to never miss out on anything that may be relevant

to their success in the classroom, namely, assistance that might increase their ability

to understand the lecturer. This desire may lead them to stay continually connected

with classmates that may provide an immediate help. However, for other students,

especially non-minority, the desire to stay continually connected with what others

are doing distracts them from focusing their attention on learning during class time.

They described their social engagement as a ‘force of habit’, and emphasized that

they would keep communicating by using social media devices regardless of the

teaching approaches used. It is also plausible to infer that those students may more

easily catch up with the material taught during a lecture, after class time, and might

have more confidence in doing so, thus might ‘‘risk’’ deviating from the primary

learning tasks. However, for minority students, such self-directed learning

approaches might be more challenging, although few mentioned using them to

some extent.

The following two themes: Classroom management and learning disabilities have

also emerged from the interviews. However, going into greater detail concerning

these issues would be beyond the scope of this paper, therefore, in line with the

secondary aim of the qualitative phase, they will be briefly discussed, as they might

reveal further explanations for SME during lectures. These explanations for using

social media for personal reasons during class might be connected to the traditional

learning environment. Classroom management is the process of organizing and

conducting the classroom. It involves the maintenance of the classroom environ-

ment so that educational goals can be accomplished (Garrett 2014; Savage and

Savage 2010). Effective classroom managers create orderly learning environments

where students feel valued and comfortable. However, students reported that during

lectures some teachers fail to effectively create a learning atmosphere. When the

lecturer is not using effective discipline strategies and order is not being kept, some

would prefer ‘‘wandering the Web’’. It may be implied that teachers who fail to

prevent management problems, may also fail to engage students in lessons geared to

meet their needs, and consequently, may lead some to an additional type of

distractive behavior - enabled by technology. Moreover, for students with learning

disabilities and attention problems, lecture-based environments pose an even greater

challenge. It seems, according to the students’ reports, that this approach, which

encourages students to passively receive information from the instructor, is

ineffective. Although struggling to pay attention during lectures, due to their

learning disabilities, those students tend to give up and use social media tools

available instead.

406 D. Alt

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Conclusions limitations and future directions

This study main inference is that traditional instructional activities, based on the

‘banking’ view of one-way traffic instruction, are very vulnerable to distraction, in

accordance with past work (Sana et al. 2013). This research adds to previous studies

by revealing several precursors to contemporary technology-enabled distractive

behaviors during class: Ineffective classroom management, learning disabilities,

language barriers among minority students, and FoMO. Based on the current study,

a comprehensive model presented in Fig. 2 is suggested. It might be worthwhile to

use quantitative data in future work to validate this model as well as adding several

academic outcomes associated with multitasking during lectures such as students’

achievement and satisfaction with their education (Kraushaar and Novak 2010;

Wood et al. 2012; Wurst et al. 2008).

Because most educators still focus on the traditional teaching pattern, which

typically means conveying information (Licklider 2009), this study may have some

implications for this teaching approach in diverse classrooms. An effective

classroom management may support positive behavior among students. Several

strategies for enacting culturally responsive classroom management, provided by

Weinstein et al. (2003), might be useful for lecture-based environments. For

example, involving students in developing and committing to behavior standards

that promote normative behavior and help support a calm, safe learning

environment, creating a positive classroom climate by establishing affirmative

teacher–student and peer relationships.

Moreover, breaking up the lecture and give the students the opportunity to

engage in social media activity might work for several groups of students. For those

with learning disabilities such as concentration problems - breaks could provide the

Fig. 2 A proposed theoretical model

Students’ social media engagement and fear of missing… 407

123

opportunity to start fresh again; minority students might be able to receive

assistance from others, and students who desire to never miss out on anything that

may be relevant to them will be provided with a legitimate opportunity to catch up

with what others are doing.

Above all, this study mainly highlights the question of how new learning

environments, alternative to the lecture-based setting, can reduce SME for personal

reasons during class, by leveraging technology to facilitate a transformative change

of existing learning settings. Students attending college today are described as

having a focus on social media interaction and preferring group-based approaches to

study and social activities (McMahon and Pospisil 2005), they are more likely to

collaboratively work with their peers to enhance their own learning, and ought to

greatly benefit from active learning opportunities (Alt 2014; McHenry 2011;

Wandel 2008). Teachers can create a more adaptive, collaborative and commu-

nicative learning environment for students by providing opportunities for discus-

sions and interactions with their peers (Heafner and Friedman 2008; Jackson 2011).

By encouraging engagement with social media, students may develop connections

with peers, establish a virtual community of learners and ultimately increase their

overall learning skills (Lin et al. 2013). For minority students, experiencing

language difficulties, such communities might provide psychological, social, and

academic support. Future studies thus should explore how social media can be

incorporated into current pedagogical applications and processes.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Dr. Dorit Alt is a Senior Lecturer, Head of the Education and Community Department at the Kinneret

College on the Sea of Galilee. He is specialized in the field of constructivist learning environments in the

information era. Her work includes research on digital and media literacy skills, assessment of different

aspects of constructivist learning environments, and their connections to psychological, behavioral,

cultural, social, and ethical aspects.

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