A fidget spinner is a toy made from metal or plastic with a bearing in the middle with usually three prongs that spin around it. The fidget spinner has become very increasingly popular amongst both children and adults. However, this toy first debuted in 1993.

The creator of the fidget spinner, Catherine Hettinger, made this toy after she heard that some children were throwing rocks at police while she was visiting her sister in Israel. Therefore, she started brainstorming to find a way to distract children from doing any mischevious act, such as throwing rocks at police and instead give them a soothing toy they can play with.

Catherine presented her creation to different toy sellers such as Hasbro but she didn’t succeed. She ended up selling the toys herself. Catherine’s patent ended in 2005 thus anyone is allowed to produce and sell the fidget spinner independently from her. Catherine hasn’t shown any signs of remorse, however. She is just happy to see that her invention is being used by so many people.

Why is the fidget spinner so popular now?

The fidget spinner is marketed as a device that helps with anxiety or even ADHD. The world 20 years ago is very much different than the world we live in today. We didn’t have to worry too much about our future and we were beginning to enjoy all the new electronics devices that were entering the average household.

It’s a different story now. Now, we are more nervous about pretty much anything in life and that is why having a small object that can momentarily take us away from this life is so useful. Even Catherine, the creator, said that she would use the fidget spinner to calm herself before going to a big meeting to present her device to toy sellers.

Go to Amazon now and you’ll find that these fidget spinners are taking over their toys sections of their website. Prices vary from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars (don’t know what is special in those fidget spinners). Pretty much it’s a rather inexpensive toy to pass the time with that can also function as a stress or anxiety reliever. It has to be said, however, that the stress or anxiety reliever function of this device hasn’t been properly researched yet.

The fidget spinner is already being banned at schools

This is a no-brainer because, in the end, this remains a toy. When a kid is in class, the fidget spinner will become the same distraction as a phone. Therefore, it makes sense why some school have already banned this. Some parents are even going as far as not letting their children even use this toy because it will cause them to lose focus on other daily tasks. If you don’t want your child to be distracted then you should also remove their cell phones, if they have one, the television, video games etc.

We are living in a word where we are bombarded by things that distract us. It’s difficult to escape that aspect of life, especially for people living in or near a metropolitan area. Maybe having something on our hands that temporarily takes clears our minds away from all of it isn’t that bad after all.