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If you’re a parent, you are undoubtedly more than aware of what a Fidget Spinner is.
Cast your mind back to when you were at school. What were the crazes then? Teenage Mutant ‘Hero’ Turtles? Tamagotchi? Or more recently maybe Loom Bands? These flash in the pan sensations define our childhoods, and for kids right now there is nothing bigger than Fidget Spinners.
What are they, then? Fidget spinners are small, handheld devices that feature three (or sometimes only two and sometimes more than three) prongs connected to a central bearing (that is either steel or ceramic). They do nothing more than spin around this bearing, typically clasped between the thumb and forefinger or sometimes perched on the tip of a finger.
They were originally pitched as stress relievers and sometimes as concentration aids, with some claims of benefits for those with ADHD, autism or anxiety. Their popularity as a toy has boomed in recent weeks, leading to some schools banning them.
Taking all of that into account, it should be of little surprise that a Fidget Spinner app is currently top of the UK Free App charts on iOS, ranking ahead of the likes of WhatsApp, SnapChat, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Called Finger Spinner, the app is free with a 99p remove ads option. It sets users the task of getting as many spins as they can with just five swipes. The reward currency can then be used to upgrade and alter the appearance of the digital spinner.
Of course, the digital version lacks the tacticity that is central to the real-life phenomenon, but as any parent of an iOS-owning child will tell you, there is nothing that won’t appeal to a touchscreen-savvy child if it’s free.
The app currently has a 4.5 star rating from 315 reviews, too, so it’s not doing badly for itself. One recent 5 Star review reads Sweet as nut tripping”, which we presume to be good? Although we’ve only recently learned to use the words ‘lit’ and ‘peng’, so are definitely not authorities on playground lingo.
Another review, although only 4 Stars, reads Not baf”. Whether that’s a typo or yet another word designed to alienate the old we could not say.
