THE FIDGET SPINNER FAD

Popular gizmos are supposed to help with focus, but are driving teachers to distraction

I have mangled countless paper clips while talking on the telephone or on my radio show with absolutely no intent of torturing the innocent little paper fasteners. It’s just that they make for convenient objects with which to fidget.

Until recently, I never gave any thought to fidgeting, but then I was introduced to “fidget spinners,” opening up a whole new world.

“Stop fidgeting” is a common phrase that rolls off many a teacher or parent’s tongue, aimed at children who are moving about restlessly. The kids may be sitting at a desk, bouncing a leg repeatedly, or they may be squirming about at the dinner table, tormenting the cutlery. Adults fidget, too. They may spin a ring, twirl their hair, doodle on paper or click a pen repeatedly. Why?

British physician James Goodhart seems to have been the first to address the topic, alleging that fidgeting was a manifestation of inner worries. He claimed to have noted an increased tendency to fidget by his patients and saw this as evidence of the declining strength of the English character. Sigmund Freud also weighed in with his interpretation, which not surprisingly had sexual overtones. To Freud, a patient’s persistent fidgeting with her handbag was a sign of her obsessive sexual interest in her family and friends. The famed father of psychoanalysis likely slipped on that one.

In the early 20th century, the British journal Lancet published a little poem titled The Story of Fidgety Phil: “Fidgety Phil, he won’t sit still; He wriggles and giggles, And then I declare, Swings backwards and forwards.” This was likely the first account in the medical literature of what would eventually be called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD, with fidgeting becoming one of its defining characteristics, along with inattentiveness and impulsivity.

As ADHD began to be diagnosed with greater frequency in the 1960s, researchers wondered if it was excessive uncontrolled fidgeting that distracted ADHD kids from paying attention. They speculated that their focus could be enhanced if the fidgeting were somehow directed to a singular activity. Thus “fidget toys” were born. Fuzzy pipe cleaners, coiled bracelets, Koosh balls, Silly Putty, stress balls, rubberized linking magnets and a host of other devices began to be marketed to help ADHD youngsters pay attention in class. The argument was that these toys provide just enough stimulation to keep kids from becoming bored, preventing their mind from drifting all over the place and allowing them to focus on tasks at hand. While there is essentially no scientific evidence for this, there are numerous anecdotal accounts by parents and teachers claiming that children with ADHD do indeed calm down and pay greater attention as they fidget with these toys.

While fidget toys were originally devised as an aid to help deal with ADHD, they have recently emerged from that niche market, with manufacturers claiming that they can help anyone focus better. The Think Ink pen, for example, can be flexed in various ways and is equipped with magnetic pieces that can be rearranged as well as with little balls that slide up and down the shaft. The pen’s promoter claims that classroom tests have revealed that students take half as long to finish their work as without the use of any “focus tools.” Where adults are concerned, tinkering with the Think Ink frees up the imagination and can result in better brainstorming sessions, at least according to the sales pitch.

While various fidget thingamajigs have been around for a while, and have been a feature of the occupational therapist’s tool box, one has all of a sudden inexplicably exploded onto the marketplace. “Fidget spinners” most commonly feature three protruding arms linked to a core of ball bearings that can be pinched between two fingers and made to spin in a smooth fashion. They are clever pieces of engineering, some even incorporating flashing coloured lights.

Spinners were born in the 1990s, the brainchild of Florida inventor Catherine Hettinger, who curiously has offered different accounts of her eureka moment. In one version, she was inspired by a visit to her sister in Israel, where she had heard about children throwing rocks at police, and decided they needed some form of distraction. An alternate story is that her young daughter suffered from myasthenia gravis, a condition that causes muscle weakness, and she invented the spinner as a toy that she could easily play with. What is known for sure, is that she managed to patent the device, but was unable to interest any manufacturer. When the patent expired in 2005, various companies began to produce spinners, mostly as a therapeutic aid to help autistic or ADHD children to focus.

Then this spring, enigmatically, fidget spinners began to appear in toy stores and bloggers flooded the web with videos of their exploits with the little devices. You know an item is hot when Gwyneth Paltrow chooses it as a birthday present for her 11-yearold son!

Curiously, while spinners were originally introduced as an aid to prevent distraction, teachers are now up in arms about kids with no previous attention problems being distracted by the gizmos. As a result, an increasing number of schools have decided to ban the seductive toys. And they are seductive. I’ll admit to playing with various versions and getting satisfaction out of a smooth, long, spin. I don’t know whether playing with the spinner has helped me focus, but I did come up with the idea for this column as I was trying to master the art of transferring a spinner from a finger on one hand to one on the other, so far unsuccessfully.

For anyone concerned about kids’ current infatuation with spinners, don’t worry, it won’t be long before they join hula-hoops, bolo bats, cabbage patch dolls and hatchimals on the junk heap of fads. For now, I think my paper clips are breathing easier.

You know an item is hot when Gwyneth Paltrow chooses it as a birthday present for her 11-year-old son!

joe.schwarcz@mcgill.ca Joe Schwarcz is director of McGill University’s Office for Science & Society (mcgill.ca/oss). He hosts The Dr. Joe Show on CJAD Radio 800 AM every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.