"FoMO or Fear of Missing the Sale?" Correlation on Social Media Addiction and Online Purchases among Sports Students

In increasingly commercialized digital environments, users are continuously exposed to both social and purchase cues, raising questions about what truly drives their behavior. Social media addiction drives online purchasing behaviors among sport-program students, revealing a distinct tension between Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Fear of Missing the Sale. A quantitative approach was employed, involving 350 respondents from sport-based academic programs. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation to determine patterns of use and relationships among variables. The findings indicate that both social media addiction and online purchasing behavior are present at high levels among respondents (r=.757**, p<.001). The results point to a digital environment in which social interaction, emotional experience, and consumer behavior are closely interconnected. In this context, purchasing decisions are shaped not only by functional needs but also by a sense of urgency driven by continuous exposure to content, trends, and time-sensitive promotions. This study contributes to the growing body of literature by offering a more nuanced perspective on how social media environments influence both emotional and consumption-related outcomes, particularly within the domain of sports merchandise

social media addiction, online purchasing behavior, sports students, FoMO

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