The Fidget Spinner trend is ending, and you missed it. Funny is that it all started in classrooms, but it escalated to social media. Fidget spinners are one of the hottest toys this 2017 season. They became popular by the beginning of February 2017, although similar toys existed in the early 90s. These fidget spinners usually consist of a two to three pronged with a circular pad in its center. We bet you have probably seen at least one of them spinning between the thumbs and index fingers of kids, teens, and even celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and the Kardashians.
We have all fidgeted at some point. It could be by either swinging our headphones, flipping a pen around our thumbs or even twirling our keys on our index finger. The market initially introduced these fidget spinners as tools for anxiety. They were designed for children with ADHD and autism—to minimize distraction. Usually, a therapist will use special toys such as clays, putties, and chewy plastics when conducting therapy with clients that deal these two mental health challenges.
According to Impact ADHD, these fidget toys does help the patients because they allow them to focus on a constant motion. Fidget spinners can spin in either direction, but they will still be going in constant motion. It sends a message to our brain, which will occupy a small part of our brain while the rest is occupied with random thoughts.
What makes fidget spinners so addictive is the fact that you could do tricks and still look cool even though you fail at them. As it spins, you could do several tricks like balancing it on top of one finger, a nose, your toes, your elbows or even your forehead. Other tricks could be a little bit harder, like switching the spinner from one hand to the other one. Or even trying the “flip the bottle” version, in which you spin it, throw it in the air and hope it lands and still turns. If you have more than one spinner, you can stack them on top of one another, and create a spinning tower. Or lastly, you could try it by throwing a spinner to your friend and hoping he catches it.
Fidget spinners had become so addictive that schools are banning them. Yes, they do sort of help you with ADHD and anxiety, but at the same time, it distracts you from everything else that is happening around you. Many high school teachers immediately noticed those fidget spinners create this little noise as they spin. And the one thing that teachers hate more than a student chewing gum in class is when a student is distracted. There is no clear explanation behind this addiction, but fidget spinners do mesmerize you with its spinning effect.
Whether it is the media trying to hypnotize us with this new toy or it is just us; its rise has been so dramatic that e-commerce data, Slice Intelligence, estimated that in the last three month, 17% of daily online sales were of fidget spinners. Although it might be too distracting, fidget spinners are of no harm to anyone. The trend is starting to fade, have you gotten yours already?
Get Your Spin On!
Katerine Chung Chen
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