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Running head: THE CRAZE OF FIDGET SPINNERS

The Craze of Fidget Spinners Zackary C. White Grand Canyon University: ENG-105 21 November, 2019

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The Craze of Fidget Spinners Who knew the thought of spinning a little toy-gadget in between two fingers could be so amusing? To many people, fidget spinners were their main focus, whether it was to help maintain attention or learning how to do cool new tricks with them. When this fad became popular, it more than skyrocketed. But they were only popular for about a year and a half; that’s what makes it a fad, not a trend. The fidget spinner fad was a quick, but very entertaining one with lots of excitement, but also consequences. The fidget spinners made their way into the hands of many people back in 2017. They did last quite a while and people still have and use them to this day. A fidget spinner is this little device that fits in a hand and is able to be spun, in a similar fashion to a pirate ship steering wheel. They were most popular with children in middle and high school because it gave them something to do in class. Research says, “The fidget spinner is the modern crazy amongst school children the world over. But it doesn’t stop there, in fact the fidget spinner is also used to help calm people down who suffer from anxiety and other neurological disorders like ADHD and autism” (Jones, 2017, para. 1). That’s right, fidget spinners weren’t made just to make teachers all over the world go crazy; they were meant to help students with learning or attention disabilities to focus in class more often. The thing that fidget spinners affected the most was school. Whether it was when friends were comparing them or playing with them at lunch or when teachers got upset and eventually banned them, they affected school the most. Dayna, a schoolteacher, believes fidget spinners should be banned because kids are only using fidget spinners as toys, they are distracting in the classroom, not all kids need fidget spinners and she also believes there is no real evidence they help kids with ADHD or autism (Dayna, n.d.). To break this down, kids are using them as toys,

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causing them to be distracting, and only kids with ADHD or autism have reason to need them, not everyone. With all these children using these as distractions in the classroom, this trend could have led to students failing classes left and right and soon setting themselves up for a bitter future. There are two sides to everything, especially the view on fidget spinners. People love them, especially children. People hate them, especially teachers. These two groups of people obviously reside on different sides of the view on fidget spinners. The kids love these fidget spinners because they keep the kids focused, but not so much focused on school. It works out well for them because, let’s be honest, most kids despise the idea of school. On the other side, teachers believe they are the devil’s work. Research says, “schools and individual teachers in Florida, Illinois, New York, Virginia and other states are banning them from classrooms, while others are taking the fidget spinners away from kids who seem too distracted by them — or are distracting others” (Strauss, 2017, para. 5). This just goes to show how far teachers went to get rid of these little gadgets. Although, they aren’t to blame. Teachers are there to teach these kids the fundamentals of all these subjects and the fidget spinners are getting in the way. Time goes on, kids are failing classes, failing high school and setting themselves up for a dark future. Although I have played with them, I have never owned a fidget spinner in my life, so I haven’t had the time to become addicted. Therefore, I am more of a spectator on the topic, so I totally see and understand both perspectives on them. Fidget spinners can be a good thing or a bad thing, it just depends on how you see them and how they are being used. If they are being used by a student with ADHD, for example, and they help that student to focus and pay more attention in school, then great! If that was their only use, they could be wonderful tools. Instead, on the opposite side, a lot of children used them as toys to try and learn cool tricks to show their

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friends and post online. That is totally okay. What’s not okay is when they decide to let their obsession with fidget spinners interfere with their education. In this case, fidget spinners are bad because they can cause students to lose their focus in school and lead themselves down a bad path. Nowadays, we don’t see fidget spinners as often. I usually only see them used by people who need them to focus, which is great, but it seems that the trend of using them for tricks and entertainment has died off, which can also be good so students will focus on their education. If people continue to use fidget spinners, there could be a drop in the students’ grades and to get extreme, maybe even graduation rates, but it could also do the opposite for the students who actually need them. Many schools and teachers banned them from their classrooms for a reason and that’s not to be overlooked. Students need to learn that there’s a time and a place to have fun and that’s not in the classroom. They may not like the consequences.

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References Dayna. (n.d.). 5 reasons to ban fidget spinners from every classroom in America. Retrieved from lemonlineadventures.com: https://lemonlimeadventures.com/5-reasons-to-ban-fidgetspinners-from-every-classroom-in-america/ Jones, D. M. (2017, August 18). History of the fidget spinner. Retrieved from huffpost.com: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/history-of-the-fidgetspinner_b_5997512be4b033e0fbdec3f4 Strauss, V. (2017, 6 1). Schools are banning fidget spinners, calling them nuisances and even dangerous. Retrieved from washingtonpost.com: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/06/01/schools-arebanning-fidget-spinners-calling-them-nuisances-and-even-dangerous/...