Matthew Gates http://notetoservices.com 4m 1,077 #fidgettoys
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
The Hype of Fidgeting Toys
With all the hype of the fidget cubes and spinners, I must say, these are absolutely awesome. My lady saw the original fidget cube on Kickstarter (154,926 backers pledged $6,465,690 to help bring this project to life and their original goal was just $15,000!) and decided to fund it. That is a lot of people backing a lot of money to fund something that really doesn’t do anything. To me, at first, it was absolutely useless. What value could this thing, this “cube”, actually provide? It seemed to serve no purpose. Literally, it does not do anything! And that is where I was wrong.
For those of you who have children, why do your kids play with toys? Even the most seemingly boring toy in the world and your child will somehow make a fantasy out of it. How is it that they can do that? I know! I used to be one of those children. I spent hours upon hours playing with toys. I would make up story lines and act out entire movies with these toys. Know what it did for me? It helped me become a good storyteller. Although my lady would say that I tell too many long stories, but I think I am pretty good at telling stories. You obviously cannot make up much of a story from a fidget cube, but they still are fun to play with.
Children are playing with them, adults are playing with them, even your dog or cat is probably playing with one. Everyone is fascinated with these little toys. While authentic ones are priced at around $10 – $20, you can get copycat knockoffs right from China, although you will wait a few weeks for them to get to the country, but you can get them for as cheap as $2 – $5. Eventually, once the hype settles, the authentic ones, too, will drop in price. For now, paying the few extra bucks isn’t going to break the bank, and might be worth it. It may seem that these products are annoying, but they really do not make much of a sound, although they may possibly cause distractions, specifically for children in a learning environment. However, that may not always be the case, and in fact, it might even help a child to concentrate even more, so long as it is secondary, rather than the primary focus.
Anyways, the fidget cube and the fidget spinner? What exactly is the appeal? One day, I had to go to a conference and while I would not say it was boring, I did keep on my jacket, and within that jacket was a fidget cube! Bliss! My hand was kept busy on all of the buttons as the time passed. Sure, I was paying attention to the lectures, but I was also kept busy with “tinkering” in my pocket. Completely non-sexual phrase right there. As you can see here from the fidget cube, they are quite fun to fiddle with.
No, it does not make rainbows appear, change the weather, work like an “Easy button” from Staples, or even make coffee. It does not connect to any USB port nor does it even need batteries or recharging. It goes back to the time of simplicity: a toy is just a toy until someone plays with it, and then it becomes entertainment. That is what it is.
Here are some photos I took of the fidget cube:
Gorgeous, isn’t it? The authentic fidget cube from the original Kickstarter. Any fidget cube will do, so long as it is keeping you busy. It might even help children and adults suffering from autism, anxiety, Aspberger’s, ADD, and ADHD by keeping them focused on doing something that is harmless. While I am not stating it will help everyone nor is it the cure, it MAY help alleviate some symptoms, at least temporarily. In fact, it is probably the best thing for someone suffering from just about anything. It could be nicknamed the “comfort cube” or the “think cube”. When I get anxious or nervous, I tend to go crazy on biting my fingernails. Fortunately with the fidget cube, it has helped alleviate this bad habit of mine some of the time. When I am thinking about something or trying to brainstorm, where do I turn? The fidget cube or the fidget spinner.
So the next thing that came along was this fidget spinner which became my first fidget toy that I keep on my desk at work. It actually keeps me entertained. In this day and age, you would expect the Internet and things on it to be pretty quick, and we have come a long way since the days of 56k where you had to watch the pixels of images loading on web pages and websites took minutes to load and a YouTube video? You could download the entire thing in probably about 15-20 minutes. Nowadays, it all comes down to seconds, and sometimes a minute or so, but it still takes time. So anyways, while I am sitting there waiting, I play with the fidget spinner at my desk. This is my spinner:
It is not that I wanted to own one or that I had to have it, but you know what? When I saw it, I wanted it. This is what it looks like when it is not moving:
As someone who thought these would be more annoying than they were and what a waste of money they were, my mind has been changed. While they serve no other purpose other than to “fidget” and “tinker” and “do something” with, they completely serve their purpose. They make for great gifts or get a bunch for yourself and keep them in the areas you are at most. You will find yourself needing to use them for comfort, thinking, anxiety, anticipation, etc. They do serve a purpose! There are tons of other fidget toys becoming available on the market everyday and they all come in different shapes, sizes, and colors.
TheDailyDot is selling an authentic fidget cube and fidget spinner for under $20.
Courtesy of TheDailyDot
Of course, if you grew up watching horror movies in the 80s, you probably remember the very first fidget cube.
Courtesy of Clive Barker’s Pinhead
Animated gifs courtesy of: http://www.adweek.com/creativity/story-behind-fidget-cube-4-million-phenomenon-you-didnt-know-you-needed-173491/
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