Fidget spinners are spinning their way into schools all around the world. Including lots of students in Cannon Falls who can’t keep their hands off fidgets. Coming in a variety of colors, the hand held spinning device are keeping kids’ hands very busy. Fidgets are supposed to help kids focus, but they just might be doing the opposite.

These spinning fidgets offer benefits to kids in classrooms. An online study from Livescience.com says the device is supposed to boost concentration, reduce anxiety, and stimulate learning. There are plenty of fun filled devices to choose from, but the one sold the most is small, three pronged metal, and a plastic device that spins with a ball in the center. Along with the spinners, there is also a tiny cube with buttons and levers to use during class. Mrs. Davisson, an English teacher, provides six cubes in her classroom for students to use to help them focus. “I think most kids grab them during tests and the other students are not distracted, unless the students are using them the wrong way,” mentioned Davisson.

Unfortunately, there are also some negatives to these fidget devices. Some teachers find the toys distracting for students trying to learn in classrooms. People will spin them and then walk away, which makes kids look at them and get distracted from class.  Mrs. Davisson mentions, “The idea of fidgets is you’re engaging your brain somehow kind of subconsciously so that the other parts of your brain that you want to use are engaged, and if you spin it and have no contact with it that is totally not doing what a fidget is used for.” Therefore, not only can they be distracting to the students playing with them, they disrupt the other students in the classroom.  An eighth grader, Emily Wojahn, states, “I personally don’t have one, but they annoy me so much when I look over and see a spinning toy in someone’s hand.”

It’s just the new thing that is going around. “In my day the new popular thing was the rubix cube.” Mentioned Mrs. Davisson. Despite all the spinning thoughts about this toy, fidget spinners are showing no sign in slowing down in popularity.