Fidget Spinner Controversy

Fidget devices are designed to be an outlet for students who need a mechanism to release stress or nervous energy without disrupting their peers. However, the devices have drawn concern from teachers over their use. Many students are not using them for their intended purpose, but rather as toys that teachers say distract from learning instead of aiding it.
“I think if the original purpose was to make sure that the kids have something to do so that they’re not distracting themselves or others, it is totally backfiring at this point in time. I think a lot of kids  are using them that don’t need them, and I think that it’s not serving it’s purpose. I think it’s more that everyone wants to have one now so that they can goof around, so it’s changed a lot,” Señor Robert Glasgow, a Spanish teacher at South, said.
Fidget devices are nothing new. Many students have it written into Individual Education Plans or 504 plans that they need the use of devices so that they can focus. The issue at hand is not in fact that people who do not necessarily “need” fidget devices are using the spinners, it is that there is a difference between using them to focus and using them as beyblade-esque toys to do tricks with, distracting not only themselves but their peers.
“I believe that they are very helpful for autistic and other neurodivergent kids, but neurotypical kids that don’t have a disorder use them as a distraction. That’s not what they’re intended to do. They’re intended for people who need something to fidget with to be able to fidget quietly without distracting other people around them. It was parents who decided that fidget spinners were toys, and that’s why they’re now a mass market thing. It’s unfair that children who are distracted by them use and ruin them for the kids who actually need them. Autistic, ADHD, and ADD kids, their brains work differently and it helps me,” Andy Chilcote ‘17 said.“I have ADD and I have a very mild form of autism, and it helps me concentrate. I have a fidget spinner, and I’m saving up for a fidget cube, and it really helps me. When I see other people who just use them as a way to screw around in class, it’s really frustrating because they’re taking away an opportunity that I need so I can learn.”