Five crises facing children after 2 years of pandemic 

  • Since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in 2020, children’s physical and mental health, education and economic wellbeing have been put in jeopardy.
  • Five crises facing children have been identified including a rise in offline and online violence, worsening mental health, schools closing and a surge in poverty.
  • Save the Children claim that the impact of COVID-19 on children was downplayed at the start of the pandemic but have become “starkly apparent” two years on.
  • You can read the full story on Save the Children’s website. 

Instagram’s Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps removed from app stores  

  • Instagram has removed its standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps from Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
  • The Boomerang app allowed users to create looping videos from photos and Hyperlapse allowed the creation of time-lapse videos.
  • This aims to consolidate all offerings into the main Instagram app, but Boomerang is still available inside Instagram Stories.
  • You can read the full story on The Verge’s website.

Millions of girls fall out of love with sports by teenage years 

 

  • A study has shown that girls who used to be very sporty “fall out of love” with physical activity as teenagers.
  • The reasons for losing interest include body image, puberty, and fear of judgement.
  • Other reasons include feeling unsafe outdoors, schoolwork pressure, lack of confidence and feeling self-conscious when watched.
  • You can read the full story on BBC’s website.

NI Assembly passes critical Autism legislation 

  • The Autism Amendment Bill was passed at the NI Assembly which will introduce an autism information service and a cross departmental autism training strategy.  
  • The legislation aims to address the challenges in accessing pre- and post-diagnosis support for autistic children and adults. 
  • There will also be a requirement for the Department of Health to make provision for regionally consistent adult autism services and early intervention services.  
  • You can read the full story on The Belfast Telegraph’s website.