The Urge of Share & Fear of Missing Out - Connection between culture shock and social media activities during Erasmus internship

Abstract

International student mobility (ISM) is a perfect opportunity for the students who complete a short-term internship in another European country to develop their cultural competences as well. Most of the students have some previous knowledge regarding cultural differences, but they are not well prepared for the arising problems such as culture shock or intercultural communication difficulties. Longer time abroad causes cognitive and behavioral changes in the interns: they have to face anxiety resulting from contacting a new culture, feeling of confusion and loss, and incompetence caused by loss of accustomed cultural clues and social rules. Both ends of the socialization spectrum (from social isolation to overactive social life) trigger oversharing on social media and deepen Fear of Missing Out (FoMO). This study addresses the nature, causes, and stages of culture shock, and aimed to determine if there a relationship between the culture shock and social media use of students who participate in Erasmus internship program, and to explore the students' perceptions of social media activities related to oversharing and FoMO.