The world is raving about the fidget spinners. Everyone around me has one and all round the clock, the internet has subjected me to the utterly colourful, spinning world of these ‘things’. I for one, don’t understand the hype at all.
Seems like this is the age of fads, from tazos, yo-yo’s, bay-blades to these spinners. While with time, fads die and leave the world for a newer fad to rise from the ashes, the trend of the spinners is something I just have never seen before.
My 7-year-old nephew, the other day was hell bent on getting one and apparently, he knew he wanted a plastic-metal combination.
Today, when I took the bus to the office, a woman sitting on my right was listening to music and spinning her way throughout the ride. Yes, everywhere I see…there is someone or the other multi-tasking – spinning the wheel with one hand and doing their chores with the other.
To understand what and how the hype of the fidget spinners came into existence, I tried to dig deeper. But before that, I tried my hands on a fidget spinner, myself.
My nephew can do amazing tricks with it, he can balance it on one finger and spin it incessantly like a pro and honestly, it looks so frigging cool to see it all in action. So the takeaway was, it is a pretty cool thing to own.
So, where did it all beagn? The trend of the fidget spinner started with the Torqbar, which were first sold in 2015 by Scott McCoskery.
According to the ‘science of us’, Scott spent 20 years of his life finding a pocket friendly solution to clicking a pen or opening or closing a knife. And hence he made a Torqbar.
The torqbars were an instant hit. The demand started to pour and Scott needed help manufacturing it. In 2016, he again released them again and started selling them on Facebook groups and his website. The demand was so damn high that their site crashed 4 times in 45 minutes. And that’s when it all began.
The fidget spinners are just a more cheaper and colourful versions of the Torqbars which were supposed to help people focus better. They were branded as therapeutic tools –
But their popularity has grown so much in the past few months that everyone wants to have one. While I have laid my hands twice or thrice on the spinner, I have to say that it is a little addictive.
If you want to understand why the spinners have become so popular, there are a plenty of reasons I could cite.
1. For starters, they are compact. You can throw them in a backpack and carry them to office/school/college. And even better, they fit in your pocket.
2. It is gender neutral, so boys and girls are both addicted to it.
3. It is noise free and it allows you to multitask. And added advantage, it helps you focus better.
4. It’s colourful, its variants and everything else just makes it worthy of a collectible. You can have one fidget spinner, but like tazos/bay-blades – you can also have many.
5. It doesn’t leave a hole in your pocket. If you are a Mumbaikar, you can easily find vendors all across the city, especially at the stations selling for Rs 60/-
It has become a stress buster and seriously, I am able to understand why it is the fad it has turned out to be.
More than that, it has just caught on. YouTubers have started releasing DIY videos on how to make those spinners. There is food being made in the form of fidget spinners!
And if that wasn’t enough. Beauty bloggers have stepped it up a notch and started applying make-up with the spinners.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVJEuxahmxH/?taken-by=kristinaxmakeup
Even innocent animals have started to trip on the spinner that rotates on a simple physics law! Pure and simple application of momentum. Sample this cute dog –
It’s like the internet is conspiring to make you fall in love with the spinners because they are so damn cool.
From teenagers to the elderly, every one is OBSESSED!
My mom is playing with a fidget spinner while driving 😂
— Lucas Dobre (@lucasdobre) June 15, 2017
Everyone is trying to put a different spin on the spinner!
https://twitter.com/jedrlee/status/875880197899272193
I mean would you look at that!
Okay but are we just gonna ingore this girls fidget spinner corsage pic.twitter.com/yAlOW3Ga1z
— CurlyHairedGeneass (@LaurensGotCurls) June 16, 2017
Most of all, the reasons that the fidget spinners have taken over is that people do not like to sit quiet/peaceful/idle at one place. They can’t just do nothing. Either they will check their phones, scroll through Facebook, play a game or chew gum.
So to quote Jonah Berger, “Fidget spinners take advantage of our desire to do something.”
Well, if you don’t understand the hype and don’t know how did these spinners made their way through our lives to become like the ultimate FAD? Let me tell you, there is a lot more to these spinners than what parents are calling, ‘a sheer waste of time’.
Like all fads and trends, the fidget’s gonna die too, but it really is addictive and obsessive. Try one and you’ll know.