You can love them or hate them but you can’t ignore them. Fidget spinners are fun for some and downright annoying for others. But they are ubiquitous. This ‘toy’ is said to have been created for ADHD, autism, and to relieve stress.
But for a three-winged object on a ball-bearing that can be easily made at home, it’s small wonder that they are becoming a huge fad, even in Bengaluru. For those who don’t get why the gadget is a rage, don’t be fooled by its deceptive simplicity. They have piqued the curiosity of not just kids (to such an extent that they are banned in schools) but of adults, counsellors, and techies.
The inventor
According to an interview with The Guardian , Catherine Hettinger, co-founded a prototype of the spinner with her daughter when she was suffering from an auto-immune disease. The idea gradually came to her when she would throw things to play with her daughter because she was too weak pick up toys. Companies have capitalised on her invention and created a thriving business.
Fidget spinners are much like Chinese cloisonné balls that are are easy to hold and are used for relaxation.
Why the craze?
For a generation that has high-stress lives and the need for constant distraction due to the proliferation of social media and apps, fidget spinners serve the purpose of being ‘engaged’ doing something. “What makes it interesting,” says a Bengaluru-based marketing professional, while he spins a fidget spinner with neon lights, “is that it’s a non-technological invention in the age of technology.”
There’s more
If you dig deeper you’ll find that it is built using simple physics. The ball bearings in fidget spinners reduce friction that allow the spinner to rotate easily. All you have to do is press the middle button and spin the blades. So if this is one kind of invention, you can innovate even more. There are everything from bluetooth fidget spinners, Harry Potter golden snitch fidget spinner, LED batman fidget spinners, fidget spinner cookies (yes, they’re edible), Star Wars fidget spinners, fidget pens, to fidget spinners converted into make-up kits!
Calming down versus distracting
Though there still seems to be a debate as to whether they are effective for ADHD and anxiety relief, in Australia-based counsellor Candida Cranston’s opinion, “They help to take the focus off the stressor.”
Could sedentary lifestyles with minimal physical activity be the reason why these gadgets are popular?
Bengaluru-based writer Ashwin disagrees. “You may be sitting in front of a computer but your mind is active. So I find it calming not distracting.” Suraj, a software engineer counters that: “It’s not a subconscious thing to do. It’s an activity you need to focus on.”
Opinions
Anusuya Roy says: “They’re overrated in my opinion. I got bored after spinning it twice.” Senior content strategist Rhea Roy adds: “To me it feels more like those smiley stress buster balls. The reason I have one in my hand makes my brain go over and over why I am stressed, or in this case fidgety, so I end up thinking more about that and stress out or fidget more.” Surya Harikrishnan, curator at Under 25 Lit Fest, agrees and says: “I found it cool initially, I find it useless now.”
Shonali Lihala, a special educational needs teacher based in Dubai, says: “It has been heavily marketed at children here. In a way it is good because kids and adults are playing with this instead of staring at screens!” But she cautions that: “Although it is recommended for kids with special needs, it might only work with high functioning children with attention deficit. It isn't a constructive toy especially for children with learning difficulty or social or speech difficulty.”
The risks
They have been banned in schools because they can cause injuries to children, with news of some cases of mishaps.
Even though there are extreme opinions on fidget spinners. The question remains if this ‘toy’ will become the base to even more innovations.
