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.
