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Invasion of the Fidget Spinners

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Fidget spinners, and other fidgety devices, have been around for a bit but only since the end of last year have they been a bona fide craze: Forbes described these things as the “must have office toy” in December, but by this month The New York Times described them as “the Hula Hoop of Generation Z”: referencing the worldwide adolescent craze from the 1950s. And, I mean, yeah. Fair. There are 5 spinners here in an office of, like, ten people; there’s an ENTIRE YouTube ecosystem around them. In my neighborhood, which has three middle-and-high schools, the sidewalks are LITTERED with fidget spinner packaging. Global sales estimates are in the TENS OF MILLIONS. The assumed purpose of the fidget spinner is to help people, particularly students, concentrate … to give an outlet to excess energy caused by stress, or anxiety… But many teachers have been saying, actually, tool-assisted fidgeting is not an aid to concentration, but a hindrance. What I want to figure out is, how we got here – how the constellation of meanings around fidgeting, and who does it, launched a tool reportedly suited for promoting calm concentration to SENSATION status, and how THAT may feed back into how we think of fidgeting.


-COMMENT RESPONSES TO LAST WEEK’S EPISODE-
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-FURTHER READING & EXTRA LINKS-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurodi...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jplafke/...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/st...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmille...

https://books.google.com/books?id=AdA...

http://nymag.com/news/features/xanax-...

http://nymag.com/news/features/xanax-...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jplafke/...

https://laurakbuzz.com/2017/02/06/fid...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bene...

http://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/adh...

https://www.cnet.com/news/fidget-spin...

-ASSET LINKS-

00:31 MATT OX - Overwhelming (Prod. OogieMane)
   • MATT OX -  Overwhelming (Prod. OogieM...  

1:03 5 EASY FIDGET SPINNER TRICKS FOR BEGINNERS
   • 5 EASY FIDGET SPINNER TRICKS FOR BEGI...  

1:24 How To Make a HAND SPINNER, FIDGET TOY FOR FREE
   • How To Make a FIDGET SPINNER for free  

1:29 Fidget Spinners- The Newest Toy To Twirl Into Americans’ Lives - NBC Nightly News
   • Fidget Spinners: The Newest Toy To Tw...  

1:46 MATT OX - Overwhelming (Prod. OogieMane)
   • MATT OX -  Overwhelming (Prod. OogieM...  

4:29 Fidget Spinner Tricks With a Professional Fidgeter
   • Fidget Spinner Tricks With a Professi...  

4:36 ASMR TRIGGER TOYS - Unique. Intense. Tingly.
   • ASMR TRIGGER TOYS | Unique. Intense. ...  

4:41 Cartier Ad - SNL
   • Cartier Ad - SNL  

4:49 Hank's Take- Fidget Spinners and Cubes taking over the school yard
   • Hank's Take: Fidget Spinners and Cube...  

8:27 FIDGET SPINNER SURPRISE CHALLENGE!!! 25 Rare Spinners Showdown!
   • FIDGET SPINNER SURPRISE CHALLENGE!!! ...  

8:35 Binaural ASMR. Popping Bubble Wrap & Crinkling
   • Binaural ASMR. Popping Bubble Wrap & ...  

9:39 FIDGET SPINNER SURPRISE CHALLENGE!!! 25 Rare Spinners Showdown!
   • FIDGET SPINNER SURPRISE CHALLENGE!!! ...  


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Written and hosted by Mike Rugnetta (@mikerugnetta)
(who also has a podcast! Reasonably Sound: http://bit.ly/1sCn0BF)

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