- College of Social Sciences, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
Aim: Social media addiction is increasingly receiving global attention, and may exacerbate the mental health problems and academic procrastination in college students. However, the complex relationship and underlying mechanisms between social media addiction and academic procrastination remain unclear. This study aimed to explore how social media addiction affects academic procrastination in college students, and to identify the chain mediating role played by lack of self-control and fear of missing out in this relationship, toward the development of effective interventions for mental health and learning performance.
Method: This cross-sectional survey study recruited 825 college students from 30 provincial-level administrative regions in China through online platforms in June 2025. Four mature scales were used to measure social media addiction, academic procrastination, lack of self-control, and fear of missing out, and Bootstrap method was used to test the mediating effect hypothesis.
Result: Social media addiction, fear of missing out, and lack of self-control positively predicted college students’ academic procrastination. Lack of self-control and fear of missing out not only played separate mediating roles between social media addiction and academic procrastination, but also jointly constituted a chain mediation between them.
Discussion: This study expands the research on the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination, providing new insights into reducing the negative impact of social media addiction in the digital age, improving college students’ academic performance, and promoting their mental health.
1 Introduction
At present, college students frequently use various types of social media, which has a profound impact on their mental health and academic performance (Nguyen et al., 2025), and can easily lead to social media addiction problems (Aslan and Yasar, 2020; Lin et al., 2023; Piko et al., 2024), which has caused strong concerns among educators and policymakers. At the same time, academic procrastination among college students is becoming a global phenomenon (Gareau et al., 2019; Peixoto et al., 2021; Gadosey et al., 2024). Previous studies have found a correlation between academic procrastination and social media addiction (Kurker and Surucu, 2024). However, the complex relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination among college students has not been fully elucidated, and further research in this field can provide a basis for developing effective intervention measures.
1.1 Social media addiction and academic procrastination
Social media addiction refers to individuals’ difficulty in effectively controlling their excessive use of various social media behaviors (Blackwell et al., 2017; D'Arienzo et al., 2019). Some college students may be attracted by various attractive information services and entertainment activities on social media (Gulnar, 2025; Salari et al., 2025), leading to excessive use and dependence on social media. This social media addiction may disrupt their normal learning, causing them to lose interest in their studies and find it difficult to complete academic tasks on time. Academic procrastination refers to the phenomenon where learners are unable to complete academic tasks within a specified time frame, which may be due to improper time management, poor execution ability, lack of rational awareness, lack of sense of responsibility, and fear of failure (Rabin et al., 2011; Steel and Klingsieck, 2016; Peixoto et al., 2021). Academic procrastination is a common academic and psychological problem among college students (Gershoni and Stryjan, 2023). In the digital age, college students may experience academic procrastination due to excessive addiction to online games or social media (Parmaksiz, 2023). Previous studies have suggested a possible correlation between social media addiction and academic procrastination (Liu et al., 2022; Caratiquit and Caratiquit, 2023). However, there are still differences in research on the influencing factors and specific pathways of the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination, and the exploration of the complex mediating mechanisms is not deep enough. This study attempts to explore how social media addiction affects academic procrastination through multiple pathways through a chain mediation model. Social media addiction may deplete the self-control resources of college students, weaken their willpower, erode their perseverance in dealing with learning challenges, increase their anxiety and stress, and make them easily avoid learning difficulties (Ning and Inan, 2024), which may lead to academic procrastination. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:
H1: The degree of social media addiction can positively predict academic procrastination among college students.
1.2 Lack of self-control as a potential mediator in the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination
Self control refers to an individual’s ability to effectively overcome interference, resist temptation, and control their behavior in daily life to achieve expected goals (Baumeister et al., 2007; Uziel and Baumeister, 2017; Grund and Carstens, 2019). For college students, the lack of self-control is an important factor that not only makes it difficult for them to reduce external interference but also leads to poor academic performance (King and Gaerlan, 2014). Previous studies have shown a correlation between social media addiction and self-control ability (Koç et al., 2023; Garcia and Cooper, 2024). The widespread phenomenon of social media addiction among college students indicates that they have difficulty effectively regulating and controlling excessive social media use. Long term social media addiction may weaken students’ self-control ability (Blachnio et al., 2023). In addition, students who lack self-control may be less willing to take action when facing academic difficulties, and may have difficulty effectively controlling their emotions or mobilizing willpower to align their actions with their goals (Dunbar et al., 2018), which may lead to academic procrastination. The self-control theory holds that human control resources are limited, and some behaviors that require self-control to regulate will consume self-control resources, thereby hindering the completion of subsequent tasks (Jedrzejczyk and Zajenkowski, 2020). This means that social media addiction may consume a significant amount of control resources for college students, affecting the timely completion of academic tasks. Therefore, a second hypothesis is proposed:
H2: College students’ lack of self-control plays a mediating role between their social media addiction and academic procrastination.
1.3 Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a potential mediator in the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination
Fear of missing out (FOMO) refers to the anxiety caused by the fear of missing out on social activities, experiences, or information to participate in activities with friends (Przybylski et al., 2013; Beyens et al., 2016; Milyavskaya et al., 2018; Elhai et al., 2021). College students are usually in a critical period of building good social relationships and tend to pay more attention to and actively participate in their friends’ social activities. Missing certain social activities may trigger social anxiety (Sabir and Jabeen, 2023). Social media can exacerbate FOMO to some extent, and when college students learn about their friends’ rich social lives through social media, it may exacerbate their anxiety and unease about missing out (Yüksel et al., 2025). Previous studies have shown a correlation between social media addiction and FOMO (Blackwell et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2021; Aygar et al., 2025), but these studies have not yet clearly and comprehensively revealed the relationship between social media addiction, FOMO, and academic procrastination. The theory of FOMO suggests that people’s FOMO involves two core processes: first, the perception of missing important social experiences; second, individuals forcing themselves to be more actively involved in social activities to alleviate this anxiety (Gupta and Sharma, 2021). College students with social media addiction tend to pay more attention to their friends’ social activities or experiences, which may exacerbate their FOMO (Zhao, 2024). This social anxiety may force them to spend more time on social media, hindering their ability to complete academic tasks on time (Al-Furaih and Al-Awidi, 2021). In addition to spending more time and energy on social media, college students with social media addiction may experience higher FOMO, which may lead to academic procrastination (Li and Ye, 2022). Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H3: College students’ FOMO plays a mediating role between their social media addiction and academic procrastination.
1.4 Lack of self-control and FOMO are potential chain mediators in the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination
Previous studies have shown a correlation between social media addiction and FOMO (Sun et al., 2022; Jiao and Cui, 2024), and a close relationship between FOMO and lack of self-control (Kumar and Kumar, 2025). However, previous studies have not yet integrated and analyzed the relationship between social media addiction, academic procrastination, self-control, and FOMO, thus failing to clearly reveal the complex mechanisms by which social media addiction affects academic procrastination. According to the theory of self-control, social media addiction can deplete the self-control resources of college students (Hagger et al., 2010), making it difficult for them to regulate their excessive social media use behavior. This may exacerbate their FOMO (Coker et al., 2025). The FOMO is associated with students’ negative social psychological traits, which can have a negative impact on their academic performance (Milyavskaya et al., 2018; Al-Busaidi et al., 2023), thereby making them more likely to procrastinate academically. Therefore, there is reason to believe that college students’ dependence on social media may weaken their self-control ability, thereby affecting their FOMO and exacerbating academic procrastination, ultimately forming a complete chain mediation mechanism. In response to this situation, the following hypotheses have been proposed:
H4: College students’ lack of self-control and FOMO play a chain mediating role in the relationship between their social media addiction and academic procrastination.
Although there have been a few studies exploring the mediating mechanisms between social media addiction and academic procrastination, there has been no systematic exploration of the interrelationships among social media addiction, academic procrastination, lack of self-control, and FOMO from the perspective of chain mediation. This study aims to provide new theoretical perspectives for existing literature by exploring the chain mediated relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination. Based on previous research results and the above analysis, this study proposes four hypotheses, and the research hypothesis model is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Chain mediation model between social media addiction and academic procrastination among college students.
2 Methods
2.1 Design
The target survey population of this study was Chinese university students. Due to the difficulties in conducting extensive offline surveys in multiple regions of China, online research methods were considered feasible for this study. We adopted the convenience sampling method through Internet platforms to widely recruit participants to participate in this study.
2.2 Participants
Study participants were 832 college students from 30 provinces or municipalities directly under the central government in China. After excluding invalid questionnaires, the sample comprised 825 participants, including 617 women and 208 men, in following age groups: 18–22 years (n = 537), 23–26 years (n = 266), and 27–38 years (n = 23). In terms of the educational level of the participants, 588 were undergraduates, 212 were master’s students, and 25 were doctoral students.
2.3 Process
Before starting the investigation, we obtained the approval from the ethics review committee of the first author’s institution. The survey was conducted in June 2025. The participants were apprised regarding the study. After they provided informed consent to participate in the study, they could fill out the questionnaire. Participants spent an average of 9 min 37 s completing the questionnaire. After evaluating the data of 832 participants, two questionnaires that had a response time of less than 3 min and five questionnaires with missing data or incorrect basic demographic information were excluded, leaving 825 complete questionnaires for analysis. We conducted Monte Carlo efficacy analysis (Schoemann et al., 2017) to calculate the sample size required to meet the efficacy level (power = 0.8) for the mediation effect test. At least 481 samples were needed as per calculations, which was met in this study.
2.4 Measures
Social media addiction was evaluated using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (Andreassen et al., 2016), which has been validated in Chinese samples (Cui and Yip, 2024; Lin and Longobardi, 2025). The questionnaire consists of 6 items (e.g., ‘Have you ever used social media to forget your personal questions?’), rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with options ranging from 1 to 5. The higher the score, the more severe the social media addiction. In this study, the McDonald’s coefficient was 0.776, indicating good reliability. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value of the scale was 0.753, indicating high validity.
Academic procrastination was measured using the Academic Procrastination Scale (Solomon and Rothblum, 1984), which has been validated in Chinese samples (Liu et al., 2023; Tian et al., 2024). The questionnaire includes 18 items (e.g., ‘Did you procrastinate while preparing for the exam.’), rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with options ranging from 1 to 5, and higher scores indicating more severe academic procrastination. In this study, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.856 and McDonald’s alpha coefficient was 0.883, reflecting the scale’s high reliability. The KMO value of the scale was 0.805, indicating high validity.
Lack of self-control was evaluated using a scale developed by Morean et al. (2014), which has been validated in Chinese samples (Ma et al., 2022; Yu et al., 2022). This scale contains seven items (e.g., ‘I can resist temptation very well.’) on a 5-point Likert scale, with four items scored positively and three items scored negatively. The higher the score, the more severe the lack of self-control. In this study, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.863 and McDonald’s alpha coefficient was 0.896, indicating good reliability. The KMO value of the scale was 0.886, indicating high validity.
The FOMO was evaluated using a scale developed by Przybylski et al. (2013), which has been validated in Chinese samples (Cheng and Jiang, 2024; Zhang et al., 2024). This scale includes 10 items (e.g., ‘I’m worried that other people’s experiences are more meaningful than mine.’), rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with scores ranging from 1 to 5. The higher the score, the more severe the FOMO. In this study, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.845, while McDonald’s alpha coefficient was 0.878, indicating good reliability. The KMO value of the scale was 0.863, indicating high validity.
2.5 Data analysis
We calculated the means (Ms) and standard deviations (SDs) of the scores for social media addiction, academic procrastination, lack of self-control, and FOMO in the participants. We also analyzed the correlations among these four constructs. Before conducting linear regression and mediation effect calculations, it is necessary to analyze the normal distribution of variables. Since the sample size > 300, kurtosis and skewness values were used to evaluate the normal distribution of the four variables. Mediation effects were calculated using the IBM SPSS software and Hayes’ Process Macro Model 4 (Hayes, 2017). The Bootstrap method with 5,000 repetitions was used to analyze the mediating effect and determine whether there is a mediating effect when the 95% confidence interval (CI) does not include zero. In the specific path effect analysis of the conditional process model, there is little difference in substantive conclusions obtained from the PROCESS macro and structural model methods (Hayes et al., 2017). When testing the chain mediation effect, in order to avoid increasing the complexity of the model, we chose the simple and intuitive regression analysis and the bootstrap resampling method provided by the PROCESS macro. The PROCESS macro has advantages in conducting mediation analysis (Sarstedt et al., 2020) and has been widely used in similar studies (Xu and Yan, 2023; Cao et al., 2024; Ni et al., 2025). Although structural equation modeling can evaluate model fit indices and analyze complex relationships, this study focuses on testing mediation effects along clearly specified paths rather than optimizing the overall model. Therefore, choosing this method is reasonable.
3 Results and analysis
3.1 Common methods for deviation testing
To test the common method bias in this study, we used the Harman single factor test method (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Through non rotated principal component analysis of all the projected data for the four variables of social media addiction, academic procrastination, lack of self-control, and FOMO, the results showed nine principal components with eigenvalues greater than 1, with the explanatory power of the first component as 23.641%, which is less than the critical value of 40%, indicating no common method bias.
3.2 Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis
The multivariate normality of the four variables, namely social media addiction, academic procrastination, lack of self-control, and FOMO, was analyzed, as shown in Table 1. Since the absolute values of skewness and kurtosis of these four variables in this study were less than 1, it can be considered that they meet the requirements of a normal distribution. The correlation results among the four variables are presented in Table 2. The research results revealed that social media addiction was associated with academic procrastination (r = 0.488, p < 0.01), FOMO (r = 0.475, p < 0.01), and lack of self-control (r = 0.505, p < 0.01). Academic procrastination was positively correlated with FOMO (r = 0.397, p < 0.01) and with lack of self-control (r = 0.499, p < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between FOMO and lack of self-control (r = 0.340, p < 0.01).
3.3 Mediating effect test
Regression analysis revealed that social media addiction positively predicted lack of self-control (B = 0.709, β = 0.505, t = 16.775, p < 0.001) as well as FOMO (B = 0.799, β = 0.407, t = 11.559, p < 0.001), and lack of self-control positively predicted FOMO (B = 0.188, β = 0.135, t = 3.82, p < 0.001) in college students. In addition, regression analysis showed that social media addiction (B = 0.724, β = 0.247, t = 7.013, p < 0.001), lack of self-control (B = 0.660, β = 0.316, t = 9.590, p < 0.001), and FOMO (B = 0.257, β = 0.172, t = 5.304, p < 0.001) significantly predicted academic procrastination, explaining 34.7% of the variance in academic procrastination (F = 145.136, p < 0.001). According to the results of linear regression, the D-W values were all approximately 2, and the variance inflation factor (VIF) values were all less than 5, indicating that there was no multicollinearity and autocorrelation in the linear regression equation, which supports the effectiveness of the linear regression prediction model (see Table 3). A mediation model was generated based on the path coefficients (see Figure 2).
We calculated the path effect and its 95% CI of the chain mediation model, as shown in Table 4. The total effect of social media addiction on academic procrastination was 1.431, with direct and indirect effects of 0.724 and 0.707, respectively, accounting for 50.61 and 49.39% of the total effect, respectively. The 95% CI for both the effects did not include zero, indicating a significant impact of social media addiction on academic procrastination. Three mediating pathways were identified between social media addiction and academic procrastination. When lack of self-control and FOMO were used as separate mediators, their effect sizes were 0.468 and 0.205, respectively, accounting for 32.69 and 20.83% of the total mediating effect, respectively. When lack of self-control and FOMO were combined as chain mediators, the effect size was 0.0342. This chain mediated pathway is significantly lower than the other two independent mediated pathways. The 95% CI of the three mediation pathways was not zero, indicating significant mediation effects (see Table 4).
In order to analyze whether there are gender differences in the mediating pathways between social media addiction and academic procrastination, the Bootstrap method was used to test the group differences between male and female college students (see Table 5). The confidence intervals of the three indirect mediating pathways for males and females do not include 0, indicating that each indirect mediating pathway is valid. These results indicate that social media addiction can affect academic procrastination in both male and female college student populations through lack of self-control and FOMO, respectively, and that lack of self-control and FOMO can jointly form a chain mediation between social media and academic procrastination.
4 Discussion
The results of this study indicate that social media addiction can positively predict academic procrastination in college students. Lack of self-control and FOMO played mediating roles between social media addiction and academic procrastination, and together formed a chain mediation between them. This study proposed four hypotheses and confirmed all of them through mediation effect testing, providing new information on how social media addiction affects the mechanism of academic procrastination among college students. The theoretical contribution of this study is to reveal the mechanism by which social media addiction can affect academic procrastination through a chain mediated model of lack of self-control and FOMO, and this mechanism exists in both male and female college student populations, providing a new theoretical perspective for understanding the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination.
4.1 The impact of college students’ social media addiction on academic procrastination
The research results indicate that college students’ social media addiction predicted academic procrastination, thus verifying H1. This is consistent with previous research findings (Ho et al., 2024; Naushad et al., 2025). This study found that social media addiction was associated with academic procrastination, further supporting the conclusion that social media addiction can affect academic performance (Hamann et al., 2024). In addition to social media addiction, other addiction issues, such as addiction related to mobile phone dependence and excessive gaming, have also been found to be potentially associated with academic procrastination (Sujadi and Sulistiyo, 2025), supporting the view that non-material addiction can be associated with academic procrastination among college students.
Social media addiction may be associated with academic procrastination among college students in multiple ways. First, college students who spend a lot of time on social media consume a significant amount of their psychological resources and are more likely to feel tired or bored (Luo et al., 2024). This may be associated with a lack of energy and greater pressure to complete academic tasks (Zhao, 2023), which, in turn affect their progress in achieving course objectives. When college students use social media excessively, they are more likely to get accustomed to instant gratification and are unwilling to rest on time, which is associated with poor sleep quality (Berdida, 2025), which affects their academic performance. Second, a key factor contributing to academic procrastination among college students is their failure to complete the corresponding learning tasks on schedule. College students may crave feedback from others and become addicted to social media (Diefenbach and Anders, 2022), spending too much time on social media (Giunchiglia et al., 2018) and facing greater challenges in managing their time (Polites et al., 2018), making it difficult for them to adhere to academic timelines. Finally, social media addiction is an easy distraction (Cao and Tian, 2022), exposing them to negative information (Balpande et al., 2024), enhancing negative emotions that may interfere with their learning state, and affecting their ability to complete academic tasks on time.
4.2 The mediating role of lack of self-control between social media addiction and academic procrastination among college students
This study found that lack of self-control mediated the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination, thus verifying H2 and supporting previous research findings (Üztemur and Dinc, 2023). This finding is similar to the findings of a recent study on Iranian university students using structural equation modeling (Rasouli et al., 2025), providing support for the cross-cultural promotion of the conclusion that self-control mediates the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination. This also means that this mediating pathway has strong explanatory power in different cultural environments, reflecting the important mediating role of self-control between social media addiction and academic procrastination. In addition, previous studies have also found that other forms of digital addiction, such as smartphone addiction, can have an impact on academic procrastination through self-control (Zhao et al., 2025), which can provide new empirical data for research in this area.
Social media addiction to some extent weakens self-awareness (Dumitrescu et al., 2023) and has a negative impact on self-control, which in turn affects students’ academic performance (Ning and Inan, 2024). The self-control power model suggests that the consumption of limited self-control resources can affect an individual’s regulation of subsequent actions (Baumeister et al., 2007). Long-term excessive use of social media undoubtedly consumes a large amount of self-control resources, which can easily deplete the psychological resources necessary for individuals to regulate normal learning and daily behaviors, thereby be reducing their ability to perform normal learning tasks. Students with social media addiction may be more impulsive (Cudo et al., 2020) and have difficulty regulating and controlling their own behavior (Zahrai et al., 2022). The theory of ego depletion suggests that an individual’s willpower and psychological resources can affect their regulatory ability (Baumeister et al., 2024). When college students suffer from social media addiction and significantly deplete their self-control resources, they are more likely to experience a loss of behavioral control. Lack of self-control may have an impact on academic procrastination (Gökalp et al., 2023). The self-regulation model suggests that self-monitoring ability plays a key role in executing specific tasks and achieving expected goals (Zhao et al., 2021). For college students, many course tasks require a long time commitment, and inevitably lead to challenges and difficulties, requiring sufficient self-control to overcome them (Zhu et al., 2016). College students who lack self-control have greater emotional fluctuations and are more likely to experience negative emotions, which can easily lead to academic burnout and exacerbate academic procrastination. For them, the negative impact of social media addiction on academic procrastination may be severe, as they lack sufficient self-regulation when faced with temptations related to social media (Rashi et al., 2021; Filip et al., 2025), and face difficulties in overcoming distractions and engaging in learning. Thus, social media addiction may impact academic procrastination through lack of self-control.
4.3 The mediating role of FOMO on social media addiction and academic procrastination among college students
This study found that FOMO plays a mediating role between social media addiction and academic procrastination, which validates H3 and supports previous research (Wang et al., 2019; Kargin et al., 2020; Sultan, 2021; Wei and Yu, 2024). The FOMO theory suggests that people crave to maintain social connections with others, and those who heavily rely on social networks to construct themselves are more likely to be influenced (Dogan, 2019). Social media addiction is associated with college students with high social needs and unstable emotions overly focused on and dependent on social media information, making them more prone to social anxiety. Social media addiction typically means excessive use of social media, and college students may be exposed to more information about their friends’ social activities or experiences, causing concerns about being absent from important group social activities (Rifkin et al., 2025), requiring them to spend more time paying attention to social network information (Kargin et al., 2020) and making them more prone to FOMO (Elhai et al., 2025). Students with social media addiction have less activity in the real world (Sari et al., 2025), making it difficult for them to effectively regulate their psychological state through activities or exercise, which exacerbates their anxiety and FOMO on social activities with friends. This fear may affect positive emotions and learning enthusiasm, may be associated with academic procrastination. It may also be associated with physical and mental exhaustion, affecting their academic performance (Milyavskaya et al., 2018). In addition, college students with higher levels of FOMO may increase their frequency of social media use and be more likely to be distracted in their studies (Shane-Simpson and Bakken, 2024), thereby being associated with an increased risk of negative learning and academic procrastination. The negative emotional experience caused by FOMO affects the mental health of college students (Metin-Orta, 2020; Wan et al., 2025), being associated with insomnia and physical discomfort, which disrupts their normal learning behavior, reduces their learning efficiency, and increases the likelihood of academic procrastination. Therefore, social media addiction among college students can affect academic procrastination through FOMO.
4.4 The chain mediating role of lack of self-control and FOMO in the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination
This study also found that lack of self-control and FOMO have a chain mediated effect between social media addiction and academic procrastination, confirming H4 and supporting previous research (Servidio, 2021; Gugushvili et al., 2024). Previous studies have found a correlation between lack of self-control and FOMO (Sun et al., 2022; Li et al., 2023). The theory of self-control proposes that self-control resources are limited, and when this important psychological resource is excessively consumed, it can lead to a decrease in subsequent self-control effects (Muraven et al., 2007). College students with social media addiction may need to expend a significant amount of psychological resources when attempting to control themselves from excessive use of social media, which to some extent weakens their subsequent self-control abilities. When self-control is lacking, college students may find it more difficult to control their excessive attention and anxiety toward social network information, exacerbating their social anxiety and unease (Garcia and Cooper, 2024). This negative emotion may make college students pay more attention to social dynamics, worry about missing social information being associated with FOMO (Blachnio et al., 2025). The theory of emotional regulation suggests that students’ academic achievement is influenced by their emotions and regulatory abilities (Jarrell and Lajoie, 2017). FOMO is a negative emotion for college students, which can seriously affect their psychological state and weaken their emotional regulation ability. It not only distracts college students’ energy, but may also put them under significant psychological pressure, further exacerbating their academic procrastination problem (Wang et al., 2019). In the context of social media addiction, when college students experience a lack of self-control and FOMO, they are more likely to indulge in academic procrastination (Li and Ye, 2022). The non-limited theory suggests that individuals with higher demands have better self-regulation abilities, which can reduce the occurrence of procrastination behavior (Job et al., 2015). On the contrary, college students who have lower requirements for themselves often cannot effectively control their excessive use of social media, have difficulty maintaining good self-control, cannot overcome the FOMO caused by social media, and thus cannot reduce academic procrastination. In addition, the lack of self-control and FOMO make it difficult for students to effectively handle academic pressure, and they are more likely to experience academic procrastination when facing the heavy academic burden of university. Therefore, social media addiction among college students can affect their self-control ability, which in turn affects their FOMO and ultimately has an impact on academic procrastination, forming a complete chain mediation mechanism.
According to the findings of this study, in order to more effectively intervene in the impact of social media addiction on academic procrastination, the following measures need to be taken: firstly, the excessive addiction of college students to social media should be reduced through various means. Large social media platforms can develop healthy online advocacy plans for young college students, provide appropriate reminders to young users who use social media for a long time, and guide them to arrange their usage time reasonably. Schools and parents should also pay attention to students’ use of social media, provide comprehensive support and guidance to college students addicted to social media in a timely manner, and guide students to return to a reasonable state of social media use. College students with social media addiction should be aware of the negative consequences and proactively develop rational social media usage plans. Through mindfulness training (Moqbel et al., 2024), regular physical exercise (Chen et al., 2022), cultivating interests and hobbies, and setting time limits for smart device usage, they can gradually reduce their excessive dependence on social media. Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen the training of self-control among college students. Schools can regularly conduct training and practical activities that help improve self-control, gradually enhancing self-control through systematic lectures, gamified training (Ansari et al., 2024) and professional training (Tang et al., 2022). Thirdly, effective measures should be taken to alleviate the FOMO among college students. Schools should teach students how to manage social stress effectively (Yüksel et al., 2025), strengthen social skills training (Piko et al., 2025), and enhance their ability to access social information. In addition, schools can organize a variety of extracurricular activities to increase communication and interaction opportunities for college students, thereby reducing social anxiety and concerns. Fourthly, comprehensive measures should be taken to reduce the occurrence of academic procrastination. Schools should develop systematic educational programs to reduce the risk of social media addiction among college students, increase self-control training, and alleviate the FOMO, in order to reduce the occurrence of academic procrastination among students. In addition, teachers should promptly pay attention to students’ academic challenges and difficulties, and provide necessary support and intervention, such as guiding students to accept and commit to treatment methods (Lee et al., 2025), or regularly pushing out notifications through teaching management systems (Mumcu and Çebi, 2025). College students should establish clear academic goals, develop appropriate academic plans, make full use of school and social resources, and help themselves complete academic tasks on time.
4.5 Limitations and future research directions
Although this study has made valuable discoveries in both theory and practice, there are still some limitations that must be considered. First, we adopted convenience sampling, which, although easy to operate, may have led to biased conclusions. Future research should use more systematic and representative sampling techniques. Second, as all of our participants were from China, it is necessary to further evaluate the effectiveness of these findings before generalizing them to other countries or different cultural backgrounds. Third, our data were based on self-reported responses from participants, and not all participants may have answered truthfully. Diverse and accurate measurement methods are needed for further research. Fourth, the proportion of women in this study was very high, which may lead to biased results. In the future, gender ratios should be set to balance this. Fifth, the weak mediating effect of lack of self-control and FOMO between social media addiction and academic procrastination suggests the existence of other mediating mechanisms, and further research is necessary to clarify these. Sixth, the self-assessment scale used in this study may have a risk of social identity bias and common method bias. Although the problem of common method bias has been preliminarily ruled out through statistical testing, future research should combine multiple types of data sources for cross validation to enhance research validity. Seventh, although cross-sectional studies are suitable for exploratory research, they cannot establish causal relationships. Subsequent research needs to test the causal relationships between variables through longitudinal or experimental studies. Eighth, the chain mediation effect found in this study is relatively weak, indicating that the universality of this effect in cross-cultural contexts needs further testing, and subsequent research should strengthen relevant verification in different cultural backgrounds.
5 Conclusion
This study has four important findings. First, social media addiction among college students is positively correlated with their academic procrastination. Second, their lack of self-control and FOMO, individually mediate the relationship between social media addiction and academic procrastination. Finally, lack of self-control and FOMO together form a chain mediation effect between social media addiction and academic procrastination in this population. Our findings provide empirical data on the impact of social media addiction on academic procrastination, revealing the complex mechanisms of lack of self-control and FOMO, and expanding the depth of research in this area. However, the conclusions of this study are mainly based on the Chinese college student population, and there may be limitations in generalizing the findings across different cultural backgrounds. In addition, the chain mediation effect is relatively small, and its actual effects need to be carefully considered when formulating intervention measures. The research results indicate that educators should pay attention to the issue of social media addiction among college students, strengthen self-control training, improve social psychological counseling for college students to alleviate FOMO and more effectively reduce academic procrastination. In the future, researchers can conduct more in-depth research on the mechanism between social media addiction and academic procrastination, such as exploring the roles played by other important mental health variables in this relationship, seeking more precise intervention measures to alleviate their negative impact, protect the mental health of college students, and improve their academic performance.
Data availability statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
Ethics statement
The studies involving humans were approved by Academic Ethics Subcommittee of the School of Social Sciences, Shenzhen University. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
Author contributions
YT: Investigation, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Writing – original draft. WH: Investigation, Project administration, Writing – review & editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Education Science Planning Project (Higher Education Special Project) of Guangdong Province in 2023, titled “Research on the Ethical Challenges and Responses of Generative Artificial Intelligence to Humanities and Social Science Research in Guangdong Universities” (Project no. 2023GXJK453).
Acknowledgments
The authors thank all the participants in the research as well as the reviewers.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Generative AI statement
The authors declare that no Gen AI was used in the creation of this manuscript.
Any alternative text (alt text) provided alongside figures in this article has been generated by Frontiers with the support of artificial intelligence and reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, including review by the authors wherever possible. If you identify any issues, please contact us.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
References
Al-Busaidi, A. S., Dauletova, V., and Al-Wahaibi, I. (2023). The role of excessive social media content generation, attention seeking, and individual differences on the fear of missing out: a multiple mediation model. Behav. Inf. Technol. 42, 1389–1409. doi: 10.1080/0144929x.2022.2075791
Al-Furaih, S. A. A., and Al-Awidi, H. M. (2021). Fear of missing out (FoMO) among undergraduate students in relation to attention distraction and learning disengagement in lectures. Educ. Inf. Technol. 26, 2355–2373. doi: 10.1007/s10639-020-10361-7
Andreassen, C. S., Billieux, J., Griffiths, M. D., Kuss, D. J., Demetrovics, Z., Mazzoni, E., et al. (2016). The relationship between addictive use of social media and video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders: a large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychol. Addict. Behav. 30, 252–262. doi: 10.1037/adb0000160
Ansari, M., Abdolrahmani, M., and Rezapour, T. (2024). The effectiveness of the self-control training video game Slankers: a pilot study. J. Cogn. Enhanc. 8, 234–246. doi: 10.1007/s41465-024-00296-z
Aslan, I., and Yasar, M. E. (2020). Measuring social media addiction among university students. Int. J. Contemp. Econ. Administ. Sci. 10, 468–492. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.4429749
Aygar, B. B., Kurt, A. A., and Akbay, S. E. (2025). Social media addiction among university students: the predictive roles of fear of missing out, cognitive emotion regulation, and life satisfaction. Cukurova Univ. Facul. Educ. J. 54, 58–79. doi: 10.14812/cuefd.1467520
Balpande, L. S., Pusdekar, Y. V., Bhagat, S. S., Patil, P. D., and Saoji, A. V. (2024). Influence of social media on psychological health of youth during COVID-19 pandemic. J. Family Med. Prim. Care 13, 1333–1339. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1355_23
Baumeister, R. F., André, N., Southwick, D. A., and Tice, D. M. (2024). Self-control and limited willpower: current status of ego depletion theory and research. Curr. Opin. Psychol. 60:101882. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101882
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., and Tice, D. M. (2007). The strength model of self-control. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 16, 351–355. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00534.x
Berdida, D. J. E. (2025). Nursing students' personality traits, sleep quality, social media addiction, and academic performance: a multi-site structural equation model analysis. J. Prof. Nurs. 56, 26–35. doi: 10.1016/j.profnurs.2024.11.004
Beyens, I., Frison, E., and Eggermont, S. (2016). "I don't want to miss a thing": adolescents' fear of missing out and its relationship to adolescents' social needs, Facebook use, and Facebook related stress. Comput. Human Behav. 64, 1–8. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.083
Blachnio, A., Przepiorka, A., Cudo, A., Angeluci, A., Ben-Ezra, M., Durak, M., et al. (2023). Self-control and digital media addiction: the mediating role of media multitasking and time style. Psychol. Res. Behav. Manag. 16, 2283–2296. doi: 10.2147/prbm.S408993
Blachnio, A., Przepiórka, A., Gorbaniuk, O., McNeill, M., Bendayan, R., Ben-Ezra, M., et al. (2025). Tell me more: relationships between fear of missing out, distress and flourishing. A study in 21 countries. Curr. Psychol. 44, 10362–10374. doi: 10.1007/s12144-025-07830-y
Blackwell, D., Leaman, C., Tramposch, R., Osborne, C., and Liss, M. (2017). Extraversion, neuroticism, attachment style and fear of missing out as predictors of social media use and addiction. Pers. Individ. Differ. 116, 69–72. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.04.039
Cao, S. M., Dong, C. M., and Li, H. (2024). Parental beliefs and mediation co-mediate the SES effect on Chinese preschoolers' early digital literacy: a chain-mediation model. Educ. Inf. Technol. 29, 12093–12114. doi: 10.1007/s10639-023-12300-8
Cao, G. M., and Tian, Q. F. (2022). Social media use and its effect on university student's learning and academic performance in the UAE. J. Res. Technol. Educ. 54, 18–33. doi: 10.1080/15391523.2020.1801538
Caratiquit, K. D., and Caratiquit, L. J. C. (2023). Influence of social media addiction on academic achievement in distance learning: intervening role of academic procrastination. Turk. Online J. Distance Educ. 24, 1–19. doi: 10.17718/tojde.1060563
Chen, B. C., Chen, M. Y., Wu, Y. F., and Wu, Y. T. (2022). The relationship of social media addiction with internet use and perceived health: the moderating effects of regular exercise intervention. Front. Public Health 10:4532. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.854532
Cheng, Y. H., and Jiang, S. (2024). Peer relationship problems, fear of missing out, family affective responsiveness, and internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: a moderated mediation model. Appl. Res. Qual. Life 19, 2227–2244. doi: 10.1007/s11482-024-10328-7
Coker, K. K., Hale, D., Alsaleh, D. A., and Thakur, R. (2025). Social media addiction and stress: insights from US Facebook and TikTok consumers. J. Consum. Mark. 42, 349–364. doi: 10.1108/jcm-02-2024-6597
Cudo, A., Toroj, M., Demczuk, M., and Francuz, P. (2020). Dysfunction of self-control in Facebook addiction: impulsivity is the key. Psychiatry Q. 91, 91–101. doi: 10.1007/s11126-019-09683-8
Cui, K. J., and Yip, P. S. F. (2024). How peer victimization in childhood affects social networking addiction in adulthood: an examination of the mediating roles of social anxiety and perceived loneliness. Deviant Behav. 45, 1640–1653. doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2317902
D'Arienzo, M. C., Boursier, V., and Griffiths, M. D. (2019). Addiction to social media and attachment styles: a systematic literature review. Int. J. Ment. Health Addict. 17, 1094–1118. doi: 10.1007/s11469-019-00082-5
Diefenbach, S., and Anders, L. (2022). The psychology of likes: relevance of feedback on Instagram and relationship to self-esteem and social status. Psychol. Pop. Media 11, 196–207. doi: 10.1037/ppm0000360
Dogan, V. (2019). Why do people experience the fear of missing out (FoMO)? Exposing the link between the self and the FoMO through self-construal. J. Cross-Cult. Psychol. 50, 524–538. doi: 10.1177/0022022119839145
Dumitrescu, M., Dumitrescu, N., and Turliuc, S. (2023). The social media addiction: what have we learned so far?-a review. Brain Broad Res. Artific. Intell. Neurosci. 14, 117–137. doi: 10.18662/brain/14.1/410
Dunbar, D., Proeve, M., and Roberts, R. (2018). Problematic internet usage self-control dilemmas: the opposite effects of commitment and progress framing cues on perceived value of internet, academic and social behaviors. Comput. Human Behav. 82, 16–33. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.039
Elhai, J. D., Casale, S., and Montag, C. (2025). Worry and fear of missing out are associated with problematic smartphone and social media use severity. J. Affect. Disord. 379, 258–265. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.03.062
Elhai, J. D., Yang, H. B., and Montag, C. (2021). Fear of missing out (FOMO): overview, theoretical underpinnings, and literature review on relations with severity of negative affectivity and problematic technology use. Braz. J. Psychiatry 43, 203–209. doi: 10.1590/1516-4446-2020-0870
Filip, D., Van der Hallen, R., Smeets, G., Franken, I., and Prinzie, P. (2025). Pathological Personality Domains and Social Media Use in Emerging Adults: Mediation by Social Media Self-Control Failure. Emerg. Adulthood 13, 291–307. doi: 10.1177/21676968241264323
Gadosey, C. K., Turhan, D., Wenker, T., Kegel, L. S., Bobe, J., Thomas, L., et al. (2024). Relationship between the intraindividual interplay of negative and positive exam-related emotions and the behavioral-emotional dimensions of academic procrastination. Curr. Psychol. 43, 31476–31494. doi: 10.1007/s12144-024-06719-6
Garcia, M. A., and Cooper, T. V. (2024). Social media use, emotional investment, self-control failure, and addiction in relation to mental and sleep health in Hispanic university emerging adults. Psychiatry Q. 95, 497–515. doi: 10.1007/s11126-024-10085-8
Gareau, A., Chamandy, M., Kljajic, K., and Gaudreau, P. (2019). The detrimental effect of academic procrastination on subsequent grades: the mediating role of coping over and above past achievement and working memory capacity. Anxiety Stress Coping 32, 141–154. doi: 10.1080/10615806.2018.1543763
Gershoni, N., and Stryjan, M. (2023). Do deadlines affect project completion? Experimental evidence from Israeli vocational colleges. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 205, 359–375. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.10.034
Giunchiglia, F., Zeni, M., Gobbi, E., Bignotti, E., and Bison, I. (2018). Mobile social media usage and academic performance. Comput. Human Behav. 82, 177–185. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.041
Gökalp, Z. S., Saritepeci, M., and Durak, H. Y. (2023). The relationship between self-control and procrastination among adolescent: the mediating role of multi screen addiction. Curr. Psychol. 42, 13192–13203. doi: 10.1007/s12144-021-02472-2
Grund, A., and Carstens, C. A. (2019). Self-control motivationally reconsidered: “acting” self-controlled is different to "being good" at self-control. Motiv. Emot. 43, 63–81. doi: 10.1007/s11031-018-9721-3
Gugushvili, N., Taht, K., Schruff-Lim, E. M., Ruiter, R. A. C., and Verduyn, P. (2024). The association between neuroticism and problematic social networking sites use: the role of fear of missing out and self-control. Psychol. Rep. 127, 1727–1750. doi: 10.1177/00332941221142003
Gulnar, U. (2025). University students' perceptions of the quality of life at university and their motivations for recreational activities. Int. J. Stud. Educ. 7, 215–242. doi: 10.46328/ijonse.356
Gupta, M., and Sharma, A. (2021). Fear of missing out: a brief overview of origin, theoretical underpinnings and relationship with mental health. World J. Clin. Cases 9, 4881–4889. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i19.4881
Hagger, M. S., Wood, C., Stiff, C., and Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2010). Ego depletion and the strength model of self-control: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Bull. 136, 495–525. doi: 10.1037/a0019486
Hamann, B., Khandaqji, S., Sakr, S., and Ghaddar, A. (2024). Social media addiction in university students in Lebanon and its effect on student performance. J. Am. Coll. Heal. 72, 3042–3048. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2152690
Hayes, A. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford publications.
Hayes, A. F., Montoya, A. K., and Rockwood, N. J. (2017). The analysis of mechanisms and their contingencies: PROCESS versus structural equation modeling. Australas. Mark. J. 25, 76–81. doi: 10.1016/j.ausmj.2017.02.001
Ho, T. T. Q., Pham, T. T. H., Nguyen, T. H., and Nguyen, T. H. (2024). Does academic procrastination mediate the link between Facebook addiction and academic satisfaction? Psychol. Soc. Educ. 16, 62–69. doi: 10.21071/psye.v16i2.16644
Jarrell, A., and Lajoie, S. P. (2017). The regulation of achievements emotions: implications for research and practice. Can. Psychol. 58, 276–287. doi: 10.1037/cap0000119
Jedrzejczyk, J., and Zajenkowski, M. (2020). Who believes in nonlimited willpower? In search of correlates of implicit theories of self-control. Psychol. Rep. 123, 281–299. doi: 10.1177/0033294118809936
Jiao, C. F., and Cui, M. (2024). Indulgent parenting, self-control, self-efficacy, and adolescents' fear of missing out. Curr. Psychol. 43, 2186–2195. doi: 10.1007/s12144-023-04450-2
Job, V., Walton, G. M., Bernecker, K., and Dweck, C. S. (2015). Implicit theories about willpower predict self-regulation and grades in everyday life. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 108, 637–647. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000014
Kargin, M., Polat, H. T., and Simsek, D. C. (2020). Evaluation of internet addiction and fear of missing out among nursing students. Perspect. Psychiatr. Care 56, 726–731. doi: 10.1111/ppc.12488
King, R. B., and Gaerlan, M. J. M. (2014). High self-control predicts more positive emotions, better engagement, and higher achievement in school. Eur. J. Psychol. Educ. 29, 81–100. doi: 10.1007/s10212-013-0188-z
Koç, H., Gökalp, Z. S., and Seki, T. (2023). The relationships between self-control and distress among the emerging adults: a serial mediating roles of fear of missing out and social media addiction. Emerg. Adulthood 11, 626–638. doi: 10.1177/21676968231151776
Kumar, S., and Kumar, S. (2025). Social media's sway: how social comparison on social media stimulates impulse travelling; serial mediation study on Indian millennials tourists. J. Hosp. Tour. Insights 8, 138–160. doi: 10.1108/jhti-01-2024-0004
Kurker, F., and Surucu, A. (2024). Social media addiction mediates the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and academic procrastination. Psychol. Sch. 61, 2701–2721. doi: 10.1002/pits.23190
Lee, S. H., Othman, A., and Ramlee, F. (2025). A systematic review on the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on academic procrastination. Discov. Psychol. 5:59. doi: 10.1007/s44202-025-00379-8
Li, J., Xue, W., Zhao, J. F., and Tan, L. Z. (2023). Cognitive bias and fear of missing out (FoMO) among Chinese college students: the mediating effects of attentional control, need to belong and self-construal. Curr. Psychol. 42, 23123–23132. doi: 10.1007/s12144-022-03435-x
Li, X. Q., and Ye, Y. H. (2022). Fear of missing out and irrational procrastination in the mobile social media environment: a moderated mediation analysis. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw. 25, 59–65. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2021.0052
Lin, Y. Q., Fu, S. X., and Zhou, X. (2023). Unmasking the bright-dark duality of social media use on psychological well-being: a large-scale longitudinal study. Internet Res. 33, 2308–2355. doi: 10.1108/intr-05-2022-0320
Lin, S. Y., and Longobardi, C. (2025). Social media use profiles and well-being: a cross-cultural study between Chinese and Italian emerging adults. Emerg. Adulthood 13, 254–264. doi: 10.1177/21676968241304146
Liu, J., Jiang, Z. X., Luo, J. L., and He, W. (2023). Chain mediating role of negative affect and ego depletion between quarantine time and academic procrastination among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychol. Sch. 60, 5088–5098. doi: 10.1002/pits.23018
Liu, F., Xu, Y. A., Yang, T. S., Li, Z. H., Dong, Y. K., Chen, L., et al. (2022). The mediating roles of time management and learning strategic approach in the relationship between smartphone addiction and academic procrastination. Psychol. Res. Behav. Manag. 15, 2639–2648. doi: 10.2147/prbm.S373095
Luo, Y., Ye, C., Zhao, Y. X., and Zhang, H. (2024). Violent online game contact and academic procrastination: a moderated mediation model. Psychol. Schs. 61, 1144–1160. doi: 10.1002/pits.23103
Ma, Y., Yang, X. M., Hong, L., and Tang, R. J. (2022). The influence of stress perception on academic procrastination in postgraduate students: the role of self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and self-control. Int. J. Digit. Multimedia Broadcast. 2022, 1–11. doi: 10.1155/2022/6722805
Metin-Orta, I. (2020). Fear of missing out, internet addiction and their relationship to psychological symptoms. Addict. Turk. J. Addict. 7, 67–73. doi: 10.15805/addicta.2020.7.1.0070
Milyavskaya, M., Saffran, M., Hope, N., and Koestner, R. (2018). Fear of missing out: prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of experiencing FOMO. Motiv. Emot. 42, 725–737. doi: 10.1007/s11031-018-9683-5
Moqbel, M., Alshare, K., Erskine, M. A., and Bartelt, V. (2024). WhatsApp social media addiction and mental health: mindfulness and healing use interventions. Behav. Inf. Technol. 43, 2511–2524. doi: 10.1080/0144929x.2023.2253932
Morean, M. E., DeMartini, K. S., Leeman, R. F., Pearlson, G. D., Anticevic, A., Krishnan-Sarin, S., et al. (2014). Psychometrically improved, abbreviated versions of three classic measures of impulsivity and self-control. Psychol. Assess. 26, 1003–1020. doi: 10.1037/pas0000003
Mumcu, B. B., and Çebi, A. (2025). You have a notification: the role of push notifications in shaping students' engagement, self-regulation and academic procrastination. Int. J. Educ. Technol. High. Educ. 22:36. doi: 10.1186/s41239-025-00537-x
Muraven, M., Rosman, H., and Gagné, M. (2007). Lack of autonomy and self-control: performance contingent rewards lead to greater depletion. Motiv. Emot. 31, 322–330. doi: 10.1007/s11031-007-9073-x
Naushad, K., Jamil, B., Khan, N. A., and Jadoon, M. (2025). Correlation between social media addiction and academic procrastination in medical students at public and private medical colleges at Peshawar. Pak. J. Med. Sci. 41, 837–842. doi: 10.12669/pjms.41.3.9276
Nguyen, T. N. D., Tran, H. Y., Nguyen, G. H. M., Nguyen, Y. K., and Dinh, H. T. M. (2025). Narcissism, social media addiction, self-esteem, and Haxeco traits: exploring influences on life satisfaction among generation Z. Psychol. Res. Behav. Manag. 18, 419–434. doi: 10.2147/prbm.S447067
Ni, J. C., Shi, Y. J., Sun, J., and Wu, Q. (2025). The effect of self-esteem on college students' learning adaptation: a chain mediation analysis of self-efficacy and learning burnout. Asia Pacific Educ. Res. 34, 1321–1330. doi: 10.1007/s40299-024-00945-z
Ning, W. H., and Inan, F. A. (2024). Impact of social media addiction on college students' academic performance: an interdisciplinary perspective. J. Res. Technol. Educ. 56, 616–631. doi: 10.1080/15391523.2023.2196456
Parmaksiz, I. (2023). The effect of phubbing, a behavioral problem, on academic procrastination: the mediating and moderating role of academic self-efficacy. Psychol. Sch. 60, 105–121. doi: 10.1002/pits.22765
Peixoto, E. M., Pallini, A. C., Vallerand, R. J., Rahimi, S., and Silva, M. V. (2021). The role of passion for studies on academic procrastination and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Soc. Psychol. Educ. 24, 877–893. doi: 10.1007/s11218-021-09636-9
Piko, B. F., Krajczár, S. K., and Kiss, H. (2024). Social media addiction, personality factors and fear of negative evaluation in a sample of young adults. Youth 4, 357–368. doi: 10.3390/youth4010025
Piko, B. F., Müller, V., Kiss, H., and Mellor, D. (2025). Exploring contributors to FoMO (fear of missing out) among university students: the role of social comparison, social media addiction, loneliness, and perfectionism. Acta Psychol. 253:104771. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104771
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., and Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. J. Appl. Psychol. 88, 879–903. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Polites, G. L., Serrano, C., Thatcher, J. B., and Matthews, K. (2018). Understanding social networking site (SNS) identity from a dual systems perspective: an investigation of the dark side of SNS use. Eur. J. Inf. Syst. 27, 600–621. doi: 10.1080/0960085x.2018.1457194
Przybylski, A. K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C. R., and Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Comput. Human Behav. 29, 1841–1848. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.014
Rabin, L. A., Fogel, J., and Nutter-Upham, K. E. (2011). Academic procrastination in college students: the role of self-reported executive function. J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol. 33, 344–357. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2010.518597
Rashi, A., Rita, K., and Poonam, P. (2021). Adverse Effect of Social Media Addiction on Life Effectiveness of Adolescents: An Approach towards Mental Health and Mood Modifications. J. Pharm. Res. Int. 33, 206–220. doi: 10.9734/JPRI/2021/v33i52A33577
Rasouli, A., Soumee, Z. N. E., Seraji, H., Ramzi, F., and Saed, O. (2025). The self-control bridge: connecting social media use to academic procrastination. Psychol. Rep. doi: 10.1177/00332941251330538
Rifkin, J. R., Chan, C., and Kahn, B. E. (2025). Anxiety about the social consequences of missed group experiences intensifies fear of missing out (FOMO). J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 128, 300–313. doi: 10.1037/pspa0000418
Sabir, A. S., and Jabeen, A. (2023). Fear of missing out in university students: a psychometric study. Ann. King Edward Med. Univ. 29, 78–84. doi: 10.21649/akemu.v29i2.5432
Salari, N., Zarei, H., Hosseinian-Far, A., Rasoulpoor, S., Shohaimi, S., and Mohammadi, M. (2025). The global prevalence of social media addiction among university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J. Public Health 33, 223–236. doi: 10.1007/s10389-023-02012-1
Sari, E. S., Terzi, H., and Sahin, D. (2025). Social media addiction and cognitive behavioral physical activity among adolescent girls: a cross-sectional study. Public Health Nurs. 42, 61–69. doi: 10.1111/phn.13446
Sarstedt, M., Hair, J. F., Nitzl, C., Ringle, C. M., and Howard, M. C. (2020). Beyond a tandem analysis of SEM and PROCESS: use of PLS-SEM for mediation analyses! Int. J. Market Res. 62, 288–299. doi: 10.1177/1470785320915686
Schoemann, A. M., Boulton, A. J., and Short, S. D. (2017). Determining power and sample size for simple and complex mediation models. Soc. Psychol. Personal. Sci. 8, 379–386. doi: 10.1177/1948550617715068
Servidio, R. (2021). Self-control and problematic smartphone use among Italian university students: the mediating role of the fear of missing out and of smartphone use patterns. Curr. Psychol. 40, 4101–4111. doi: 10.1007/s12144-019-00373-z
Shane-Simpson, C., and Bakken, T. (2024). Students' fear of missing out predicts in-class social media use. Teach. Psychol. 51, 141–150. doi: 10.1177/00986283211060752
Solomon, L. J., and Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination-frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. J. Counseling Psychol. 31, 503–509. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.31.4.503
Steel, P., and Klingsieck, K. B. (2016). Academic procrastination: psychological antecedents revisited. Aust. Psychol. 51, 36–46. doi: 10.1111/ap.12173
Sujadi, E., and Sulistiyo, U. (2025). Smartphone addiction, religiosity, and academic procrastination among college students: the mediating role of self-esteem and self-regulated learning. Psychol. Sci. Educ. 30, 67–80. doi: 10.17759/pse.2025300105
Sultan, A. J. (2021). Fear of missing out and self-disclosure on social media: the paradox of tie strength and social media addiction among young users. Young Consum. 22, 555–577. doi: 10.1108/yc-10-2020-1233
Sun, C. K., Sun, B. H., Lin, Y. S., and Zhou, H. (2022). Problematic mobile phone use increases with the fear of missing out among college students: the effects of self-control, perceived social support and future orientation. Psychol. Res. Behav. Manag. 15, 1–8. doi: 10.2147/prbm.S345650
Tang, Y. Y., Tang, R. X., Posner, M. I., and Gross, J. J. (2022). Effortless training of attention and self-control: mechanisms and applications. Trends Cogn. Sci. 26, 567–577. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.04.006
Tian, Q., Mustapha, S. M., and Min, J. (2024). The mediation effect of academic self-efficacy on academic procrastination, performance, and satisfaction of Chinese local technology university undergraduates. Psychol. Res. Behav. Manag. 17, 3779–3798. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S479189
Uziel, L., and Baumeister, R. F. (2017). The self-control irony: desire for self-control limits exertion of self-control in demanding settings. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 43, 693–705. doi: 10.1177/0146167217695555
Üztemur, S., and Dinc, E. (2023). Academic procrastination using social media: a cross-sectional study with middle school students on the buffering and moderator roles of self-control and gender. Psychol. Schs. 60, 1060–1082. doi: 10.1002/pits.22818
Wan, X. W., Sheng, W. B., Huang, R., Zeng, C., Zhou, X., Wu, Y., et al. (2025). Relationship between psychological security and fear of missing out among university students: a moderated mediation model. Int. J. Ment. Health Promot. 27, 215–229. doi: 10.32604/ijmhp.2025.059074
Wang, J. Y., Wang, P. C., Yang, X. F., Zhang, G. H., Wang, X. C., Zhao, F. Q., et al. (2019). Fear of missing out and procrastination as mediators between sensation seeking and adolescent smartphone addiction. Int. J. Ment. Health Addict. 17, 1049–1062. doi: 10.1007/s11469-019-00106-0
Wei, P. C., and Yu, H. Q. (2024). The relationship between childhood psychological abuse and social media addiction among college students: the mediating role of fear of missing out and the moderating role of left-behind experience. Arch. Med. Sci. 20, 798–805. doi: 10.5114/aoms/174649
Xu, C., and Yan, W. H. (2023). Negative parenting styles and social adjustment of university students: a moderated chain mediation model. Curr. Psychol. 42, 27719–27732. doi: 10.1007/s12144-022-03809-1
Yu, H., Yang, L., Tian, J., Austin, L., and Tao, Y. (2022). The mediation role of self-control in the association of self-efficacy and physical activity in college students. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 19:12152. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912152
Yüksel, P., Aksoy, S. G., and Ho, H. Q. (2025). Mental health in a digital world: how problematic cell phone use and personality predict fear of missing out (FoMO) in gen Z university students from Türkiye and the U.S. Psychiatry Behav. Sci. 15, 1–9. doi: 10.5455/pbs.20240918082559
Zahrai, K., Veer, E., Ballantine, P. W., and de Vries, H. P. (2022). Conceptualizing self-control on problematic social media use. Australas. Mark. J. 30, 74–89. doi: 10.1177/1839334921998866
Zhang, H., Li, H. X., Li, C. L., and Lu, X. Y. (2024). Disentangling user fatigue in WeChat use: the configurational interplay of fear of missing out and overload. Internet Res. 34, 160–186. doi: 10.1108/intr-07-2023-0565
Zhang, Y. L., Li, S., and Yu, G. L. (2021). The relationship between social media use and fear of missing out: a meta-analysis. Acta Psychol. Sin. 53, 273–290. doi: 10.3724/sp.J.1041.2021.00273
Zhao, L. (2023). Social media addiction and its impact on college students' academic performance: the mediating role of stress. Asia Pac Educ. Res. 32, 81–90. doi: 10.1007/s40299-021-00635-0
Zhao, L. (2024). The relationship among self-esteem, fear of missing out, and problematic social media use in Chinese college students: a cross-lagged analysis. Curr. Psychol. 43, 31010–31018. doi: 10.1007/s12144-024-06652-8
Zhao, J. Z., Meng, G. T., Sun, Y., Xu, Y. Q., Geng, J. Y., and Han, L. (2021). The relationship between self-control and procrastination based on the self-regulation theory perspective: the moderated mediation model. Curr. Psychol. 40, 5076–5086. doi: 10.1007/s12144-019-00442-3
Zhao, X. L., Wang, H. H., Ma, Z. M., Zhang, L. B., and Chang, T. (2025). Smartphone addiction and academic procrastination among college students: a serial mediation model of self-control and academic self-efficacy. Front. Psych. 16:2963. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1572963
Keywords: social media addiction, academic procrastination, lack of self-control, fear of missing out, chain mediated effect
Citation: Tang Y and He W (2025) Impact of social media addiction on college students’ academic procrastination: a chain mediated effect of lack of self-control and fear of missing out. Front. Psychol. 16:1668567. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1668567
Edited by:
Chei-Chang Chiou, National Changhua University of Education, TaiwanReviewed by:
Omid Saed, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, IranAmirhossein Rasouli, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Copyright © 2025 Tang and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Weiguang He, aHdnQHN6dS5lZHUuY24=