This article examines the effect of fear of missing out (FoMO) on social cyberloafing among Generations X, Y and Z. Social cyberloafing is addressed as a behavioral tendency in which individuals, although physically present in a social setting, direct their attention to online flows, weaken their social presence and subordinate face-to-face interaction to digital engagement. The study was designed through a quantitative research approach. A pilot study for the development of the Social Cyberloafing Scale was conducted with 232 participants, while the final field study was carried out with a sample of 900 participants equally distributed across Generations X, Y and Z. The findings indicate that participants’ FoMO levels were moderate-to-high and their social cyberloafing levels were moderate. No significant gender difference was found; however, significant differences emerged according to marital status, age, education, income and daily social media use. Linear regression analysis showed that FoMO had a statistically significant but low explanatory effect on social cyberloafing. The results suggest that social cyberloafing is a multidimensional behavior that cannot be explained solely by FoMO, and that habits, attention patterns, social context and generational experiences also shape this behavior.
Social cyberloafing, FoMO, fear of missing out, generations, social media.