The concerns about the consequences of mental problems related to use of social media among university
students have recently raised consciousness about a relatively new phenomenon termed Fear of Missing
Out (FoMO). Drawing on the self-determination theory and on the assumption that low levels of basic
need satisfaction may relate to FoMO and social media engagement, the aim of the present research
was to examine for the first time possible links between FoMO, social media engagement, and three
motivational constructs: Intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation for learning. Data were gathered from 296
undergraduate students by using the following scales: Social Media Engagement (SME), Fear of
Missing Out (FoMOs) and Academic Motivation. The SME is a new scale, specifically designed for this
study to measure the extent to which students used social media in the classroom. This scale includes
three categories: Social engagement, news information engagement and commercial information
engagement. Path analysis results indicated that the positive links between social media engagement
and two motivational factors: Extrinsic and amotivation for learning are more likely to be mediated by
FoMO. Interpretation of these results, their congruence within the context of the theoretical frameworks
and practical implications are discussed.