Abstract
Background: Because of the worsening health effects, fast food consumption and its effects have become a serious public health problem worldwide. Aim: Our study sought to determine the relationship between the effects of different social media usage and its impact on the frequency of fast-food intake, as well as the growth in poor nutritional implications in children and adolescents among the Saudi Arabian general population. Methods: Our study adapted a cross-sectional study design. The study included a sample of Saudi children and adolescents of both sexes. A predesigned questionnaire was used for data collection and data were managed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Results: The study included 300 participants of whom 80.7% were females. 95% of the participants in the study reported using social media and 45.7% reported using it more than four hours per day. Social media usage habits were reported to be high by 46% of respondents. In total, 76.7% of the participants in the research said they like fast food and 61.3% said they enjoyed soda. Only 31% believe that watching online fast-food promotions increases their fast-food consumption. Conclusion: Fast food choices and behaviors were significantly connected with the average daily usage of social media. People, who like fast food, consume it in restaurants, prefer salty food, dislike sweet food, drink soda and do not think that seeing online advertisements for fast food promotes consumption were more likely to use social media heavily.