- I'm with a large group of slow-moving people,
and this is really helping me.
(acoustic guitar strumming)
- Fidget Spinners are not just a cool new toy.
They are supposed to be a tool
to help people with ADHD and anxiety focus.
- I've had ADHD as long as I can remember.
- People who have ADD, when you're not focused
your brain is going everywhere.
- When I saw the Fidget Spinner, it never jumped out to me
as something that would help my ADHD.
- ADHD can cause some fidgeting and body control issues.
Your brain is chronically under-aroused,
meaning it's kind of bored.
- I'll play with my hair.
And I have split ends, and so it's like a little project.
- I'm really bad at sitting or standing
to watch or listen to something for a long period of time.
- Yeah, I fidget constantly.
- I probably interrupt more than I fidget.
- And I lean back in my chair like this.
- Repetitive motions like cracking knuckles,
or sitting funny in their chair, or tapping their feet.
As long as that's something that functions for them,
then it's a fidget that doesn't interfere with focus.
It probably actually helps it.
The claims that Fidget Spinners are backed by science
as useful tools for people with ADHD are somewhat overblown.
They keep it vague because there actually isn't
a whole lot to support these specifically.
- It seems like it doesn't serve many purposes.
I feel like I would get, after a while,
I would get bored of this.
- I guess I don't really know until I try.
- Fidget Spinners are more likely
to be a distraction and a toy,
but there are adults who can make that determination
a little bit better for themselves.
And so, if they are able to get more work done,
or they are able to sit through meetings,
or get through the tasks in their day,
then I would say that it probably works.
- I have a lot of work to do today.
I came into work early this morning.
Hopefully, this works.
- [Andrew] Using it at PyCon in Portland this year.
If anyone asks, I'll just tell them
we're doing an experiment.
- And hopefully, I don't get distracted doing stuff
like fidgeting around on my desk.
Well, I put my hair up so that I wouldn't play with it.
- Has the fidget spinning annoyed you?
- It's probably distracted me more than it's helped her.
- Just came out of the meaning with my Fidget Spinner.
And this is a meeting where shouting out a lot,
because I won't pay attention if I don't do that,
and I didn't say anything.
It's a win.
- I'm going to try to use a Fidget Spinner
while I watch a TV show,
'cause that is when I tend to move around a lot.
- [Andrew] When I talk to people, I'll pull it out
and start fidgeting with it.
I think it's not well received by them.
- It's getting kind of tedious to use this.
It makes this lie whoosh sound,
and it kinda distracts my brain.
Instead of using the Fidget Spinner, I'm just eating grapes.
So it's not really doing much.
- [Andrew] It does help me focus when I'm talking to people
because I know what I'm doing with my hands.
Often, I'll find myself in a crowd, and I'll be like,
"What do I do with my hands?"
- We're about to get on a train for eight hours.
The thing keeps spinning, so it's always doing something.
I really didn't think the Fidget Spinner was gonna work.
It works.
I would use the Fidget Spinner so much,
and then I would put my hand down,
and my hand would get tingly, and it would need the spinner.
It was crazy.
- So as the week goes on, we're all having
a lot of trouble not losing this thing.
It's very lose-able.
- It never got permanently lost,
but I would misplace it probably every other day.
- I had it this morning and ...
Found it.
So we're just coming back from a long weekend
of looking at wedding venues.
And the Fidget Spinner actually was helpful
with my anxiety, which was high.
- It didn't do much for me.
As someone with ADHD, it was just another item
for me to lose all the time.
- I thought it was gonna be stupid
but it really, I really liked it.
It really works.
- The amount this distracts other people
doesn't warrant the amount it helps me focus.
- I got a bruise here 'cause I would just
do it so hard, 'cause it was like,
I just loved the fact that you just like ...
- I thought it was helping me focus in meetings,
but maybe it was just giving me something else
to focus on so I wasn't so annoying in meetings.
- I think a really good test for whether or not
a Fidget Spinner is something useful would be,
"What did you remember from the meeting?"
It might be a distraction,
but it might not be an attention focuser.
- And so I'd bring it with me, but I'd often misplace it.
And I think that actually speaks,
the way that an ADHD brain works.
For some people it can kinda be another distraction.
- I was chatting with a whole bunch
of other engineers at the conference.
This kinda gave me a little something to focus on
besides the crowd as I was engaging with other people.
It prevented that brief moment of boredom
that usually leads to getting distracted with the ADHD.
- My huge issue is I was always playing with my split ends.
That was a really big issue for me.
Any time I felt myself doing it, I would just pick up
my Fidget Spinner, and I would just do this.
- I don't recommend this for ADHD.
I recommend it for anxiety.
Looking at venues, and I had my Fidget Spinner out.
Every time I heard a per-person price for food,
I could have had a panic attack, but I didn't.
You have to be in a situation where it's not
annoying people when you're using it.
And it's not gonna work for everyone.
But if you want to try it, try it.
(acoustic guitar)