The Fidget Spinner, what is the fascination with this mindless trinket? .are we regressing as a species?...is this a sign that we are at a technological saturation point, no longer impressed by the latest developments on the cutting edge?...yawn at the new and improved, at the latest IPhone reveal... we are becoming primitive again...Soon we will once again be amazed at the accidental creation of fire..not by rubbing two sticks together...but by overcharging our Samsung batteries.

each of my kids have one . they played with it for a week and just forgot about it after. it calmed them when they were fidgety but not enough to maintain their attention. i wonder what would be the next brilliant invention after this

Naaaah. Nothing special or symbolic about such things. It's a short fad. I've seen hundreds of those come and go over the years.

What's annoying to me, is that a lot of fads are entirely artificially created and promoted, as I think this one was. Something that is mildly diverting, just odd enough to make someone chuckle that money was spent on it, is advertised as a latest thing, millions are sold, and then like a shallow tide, the fad passes, and we're back to our normal lives humming by again.

Remember hackeysack? Spinning hubcaps? Yo-yos? Those little balls of sticky rubber, shaped roughly like spiders, that we were supposed to throw against the wall, and then marvel as they slowly "crawled" down it? And all the fads in clothing? Hats that were supposed to get us laid, trousers that would let us watch an entire film and get fatter as we did, without pinching and causing us to leap out of our seats? Beds that crumple us into bent crones? Clap-on, clap off? I-phones? Sun glasses that make us able to see through reflected glare (maybe)? Wildly overpriced pillows that let us sleep better than ever before?

Some of those fads you listed pre-date the birth of the cell phone and modern gaming consoles...
the bar should have been raised in light of the advances.

It is no different then when we had Clackers growing up just a fad... It will come down to someone getting hurt really bad and parents will quit buying them.. Just like the Clackers they will fade away...



Back in the day I got pretty good with these...

They have had a few already hurt one little boy his dad decided to use the compressed air can to see how fast he could make it go it did.. It flew off and hit his son on the upper lip right under his nose it went through the top part of his lip..Hospital and several stitches later he was lucky that was all it did.. Teacher had a kid with one in the class room it was going so fast it got away and hit the wall and stuck in the wall.. Ohh and another kid had one it got away and hit a woman gave her a concussion..

To me these are going to put a eye out or kill someone..

But just a fad and a toy nothing more... And someone is making millions off of it..

Society has gained the "I want it all right now" frame of thinking.
Advertising has become invasive to our needs and creates wants in our immediate minds. The most effective advertising is the one that you don't recognize but adopt the mindset to buy, buy, buy because you want, want, want.

Then, when you get it, your enjoyment wanes because it wasn't something you really wanted but someone else convinced you that you did.

The same thing applies to NEWS and media but with mindsets instead of products. You are told who to vote for, whether or not you should care about something that doesn't really affect you and Who is important to listen to.

Then when that product gets old, your candidate didn't win or that important person was wrong you feel cheated and get stressed out but you realize that it was you that bought into the "pet rock idea" in the first place so your stress doesn't have an outlet.

Anyone remember those TV Dinners in the aluminum trays? It was a fad at one time. A special treat that was convenient and unique.
Then, lo and behold, another fad hits called the microwave oven.
I remember a few people that saw no reason to buy a microwave oven.
Now, it is a useful appliance that nearly everyone own and the TV Dinner has turned into nutritional instant dinners and sustenance.

The pet rock turned into the tamagotchi. That device taught children (and some adults) the concept of caring for others. It supplanted some aspects of parenting or, depending how you look at it, afforded concepts that some parenting lacked.

Some "FADS" actually evolve into useful products.
Beepers turned into cell phones. Cell phones turned into mini computers with internet and gaming applications. I often wonder what the next step in this current fad will be and how it might change our lives for the better.

Its not a reversion to stone age it is just a complicated way that new ideas gain acceptance and is an evolving process of invention and application.

The worst consequence is on the environment/ecology.

It's like giving a young child a present for Christmas or a birthday, they open it then spend hours playing with the box!

Have you heard of Agenda 21? If there is a regression (and there is, I've had awareness of it most of my life) then it is a planned regression.

When we're all indoctrinated from birth, it's hard to see all the manipulative factors around us. How many of us are in a place where we don't believe we can make a difference in the world? How many common men on the planet have actual power, over their own circumstance?

Even if you own your own business, you're still subject to the larger system which you operate within. There's no power in that. We live under near-total control. And we're constantly headed to a state of absolute control.

Just as an example, how did it come to be that the greatest nations on this planet, all decided, essentially at the same time. To move the majority of manufacturing to China, and other third world countries? Did we vote for this?

An equally important part to this is how they manipulated us to accept low quality, inferior products. They changed our behavior to suit their products. Not the products to suit us. Everything is increasingly cheap, And more expensive than it should be. Truly, they don't "make them like they used to". But it is planned that way.

See:

Aldous Huxley - Brave New World, and Brave New World Revisited.

Alan watt (*Not* the philosophical/entertainer) but the geo-political researcher from Ontario Canada.

Whats the implication of the smartphone age to our cultures ?

It sounds like you would already have a decent idea of the purpose. Care to share?

If we're ever going to move away from the manipulation and corruption, we all must be the best teachers we can be.


Track and gather statistics, so you know how fast you can push your agenda. Also find and eliminate any "rebels". It's a good way to keep people complacent. Give them their little entertainment centres they've been indoctrinated to love. Soon you'll never have to leave home. You'll be paid to stay there ("living allowance"). All the inferior junk can be ordered online, food too. Transportation for the common men will cease (First encourged to reduce (encourge=forced, psychological tactics), then shared transport). Everyone will be force-migrated to large city centres (Already happening). Crammed in to small spaces. In the name of saving the environment. For the same people who caused the very things they're manipulating us to "fix". And of course the purpose of all these things is a large scale cull, and total control.

Oh man, don't get me started on old toys I had..

Hot wheel's by the bushel, corgi toys, wheelo, SST, Wizzer.. just to name a few.

I think 'Pet Rock' sums it up.

dearest soufie please don't be mad but i think your pet rock died while i was watching it for you

Well, I am mad.
That was my best rock.

local band the halfmoon jug band. wish i could have found a link to that song lol

Which song?

pet rock not sure of full title hang on i'll check my zune

rocky was the best from spaceman in a jug