A psychologist debunks the claim that fidget spinners help kids focus
Fidget spinners are everywhere these days. You can buy them on any street corner for a few dollars, and both kids and adults are obsessed with them. The companies that make these hot new gadgets claim they help relieve stress and anxiety and can help kids with ADHD focus,
David Anderson, PhD, a clinical psychologist from the Child Mind Institute, shares his thoughts on spinners.
cheers radlerjan. interesting, thank you.
not living within cooee of a shop, i did not know about fidget spinners until 2 weeks ago when i travelled to the big smoke.
i sat and watched the display and listened to the guy selling them. having observed and written on primary human needs, and studied and practiced gestalt psychology, i find these kinds of things fascinating.
and l and came to a conclusion.
for those spinners who use regularly there is some kind of benefit.
i suggest that fidget spinners are all about creating certainty in our uncertain crazy world.
there is comfort in the certainty of the spinners doing what is expected - pure physics.
no government can interfere with this certainty, no schoolteacher, no parent, no wrath of god or nature.
once one is addicted to this toy, it is probably a good idea to have a spare one, if the first is misplaced. it would probably be upsetting to be without one, at least for a period.
there are other ways which people create certainty. some people will make lists, some people will not step on the cracks in the pavement. others will doodle endlessly the same image or pattern with pen and paper.
david anderson does say that each person being an individual benefits from some treatment, and not from others. the same could be said of using the spinner. some would find it beneficial and others not. if not beneficial, the spinner would find itself in the back corner of the bottom drawer, all but forgotten.
in conclusion, i suggest that if a person did find it beneficial, it would be because it has a calming effect which comes about from the certainty of the behaviour of the spinner: the rhythm, the pattern, the reliability.
Thanks :)
Its hard to buy where i living :(
This is another fad that will fade soon.