Examining the predictors of university students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction in online environments

Abstract

PurposeRecently, online learning and online environments have become even more important. Students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction are seen as interrelated components that affect students' online teaching and learning process. In this context, university students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction in online environments, the relationship among them and students' demographic characteristics, online environment usage status and Internet usage profiles as their predictors are examined in this study.Design/methodology/approachThis is a relational study and is carried out with 179 university students. Personal information form, student's engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction scales were used as data collection tools. Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation, hierarchical linear multiple regression analysis are used for the analysis.FindingsAccording to the results, variables related to students' demographic characteristics, online environment usage status and Internet usage profiles together significantly predict the students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction in online environments. When students think positively about taking courses online, their engagement increases accordingly and their fear of missing out levels decrease. Increase in student's academic achievement leads to decline in Internet addiction.Practical implicationsIn practice, examining the related variables about students in terms of engagement to the learning environment, fear of missing out and Internet addiction could bring a new perspective to studies on problematic use of the Internet and technology such as nomophobia and digital distraction. The results of this study reveal how and which components to be focused on for increasing the university students' engagement, reducing Internet addiction and fear of missing out in online learning environments.Originality/valueThe findings of this study provide a versatile perspective with the variables of student participation, fear of missing out, Internet addiction and their predictors in online learning environments, which are becoming widespread and increasingly important today and shed light on future researches.