Opinion: mainstream fidget spinner use defeats purpose

By Lizbeth Cuellar | Big Stick Editor |

Everyone loves a good toy when it first hits the shelves, and no mater how lame or how cool it actually is, people and social media always glorified it to be the hottest thing to have.

This past year, fidget spinners have made ways into stores and mobile apps. Yes…apps. If you can’t purchase the toy, there is an app that is available for downloading on your phone to have access to the spinner whenever. Fidget spinners became popular as of April this year but similar devices have been around since the year 1993. Mostly targeted to the younger audience of children and teenagers, spinners have been banned in many classrooms because teachers and faculty believe they causes distractions in classes. Originally this gadget was designed for children who suffer from medical conditions and may be prone to fidget. However, many have used it for their own entertainment and that is what’s disturbing.

How can someone use a “therapy” toy meant for someone else who actually is in need of it and get a fun satisfaction out of it? It makes it seem as if autism, anxiety, and ADHD are a joke or not important at all. But has anybody ever mentioned whether fidget spinners really do help with these type of disorders?

Since becoming the hottest new thing, no official reports have been made documenting whether fidget spinners really do help people cope with anxiety, ADHD, or autism. Instead, manufacturers are just focusing on more designs: Halloween spinners, neon color spinners, even Christmas spinners are now hitting stores.

And there are even more “spin-offs.” At your local Walmart you can buy a spinner for two dollars at most, and then sell or trade them to others. There are even Youtube videos showing how to do cool tricks, which all just sounds ridiculous. The fidget cube came as a follow up after the spinner gained recognition; it is just a cube toy with different little gadgets around it with the word “fidget” thrown into the name.

But why fidget spinners? People are dramatic and make anything dumb turn cool by giving it the wrong type of attention. Unfortunately, in this case, something that was meant for medical therapy became that dumb thing.