Dominic Verstegen

The Arizona Republic

Just getting into the whole bottle-flipping craze? Well that’s done. That’s so 2016. The world is a completely different place, and that is in no way an exaggeration. Bottle-flipping is dead, or at least being steadily eclipsed by the new fad that kids can’t get enough of: fidget spinners.

What are they?

Fidget spinners are little gadgets, smaller than your palm, with two or three prongs with circles in them, along with a circular pad in the middle where you hold the device with your finger and thumb. Then you twirl it.

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Are they popular?

Somehow, yes. Why? Some things can’t be explained rationally. Remember Chumbawamba?

But really, what do kids do with them?

Mostly, they just spin them while they hold them. That’s it. Somehow that’s enough. Yet my anniversary present of a Forever 21 gift card wasn’t.

As the kids get more comfortable with the gadgets, they spin the things on the ground and other surfaces, including their face. And there are already innumerable trick-shot videos littering YouTube involving fidget spinners because that’s how Generation Z communicates with each other apparently.

They can be ridiculously cheap — or ridiculously expensive

The price can range from a couple of bucks to more than a couple hundred. I know, right?!

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Do they have any legitimate uses?

Manufacturers claim that the gadgets aren’t just fun to play with, but also help people with ADHD, anxiety, autism and various other conditions.

Forbes magazine named fidget spinners the office toy of the year for 2017.

I guess that means it’s possible that even well-meaning adults can mess with the gadgets, and have fun, too.

Is there a weird hardcore subculture of fidget spinners?

Sure, why wouldn’t there be? There’s a whole subreddit about it. The super fidget spinner nerds have very strong opinions about which fidget spinners are the best and why.

Is the fidget spinner less annoying than previous fads?

Actually, yes. At the end of the day, this fad isn’t bad. The clanking and banging of bottle-flipping is distracting. The crafting of colorful rubber-band bracelets with the rainbow loom was all right, although a bit spendy and created trails of mini rubber bands and unused rubber-band bracelets everywhere.

The fidget spinner is small, cheap and relatively quiet.

Would I prefer that my kids join a reading club that they participate in between innings of their all-star baseball games? Sure. But if fidget spinners keep them off their phones and tablets, then so be it.

Dominic Verstegen is a 40-something dad living in Phoenix and documenting his life and opinions in occasional columns. Follow him on Twitter: @DVerstegen1