This study examines the mediating role of cyberloafing in the relationship between students’ perceived value of a course and their academic performance. Cyberloafing has been identified as a behavior that can undermine teaching effectiveness and student engagement, leading to reduced academic achievement. Utilizing the expectancy-value theory and the self-determination theory as frameworks, we explore how students’ beliefs about the utility and relevance of course content and their sense of competence and autonomy impact their motivation and performance. Our research demonstrates that cyberloafing fully mediates the relation between the perceived value of a course and student engagement, as well as perceived course difficulty and academic outcomes. The findings underscore the need for interventions to reduce cyberloafing, as it poses a significant barrier to effective education by diminishing students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and diverting their focus from learning objectives.