Nick Barrieau

Staff Writer

Nearing the end of the 2017 school year, a new type of phenomena has started not only at Foran, but also at other schools all around the world. This craze started with only a few students and quickly exploded into a new sensation that almost everyone wanted to be a part of. If you haven’t figured out yet, this trend is the outburst of the interesting pocket-sized fidget spinners. Fidget spinners are small toy-like products that can fit in the palm of your hand. You can spin and twirl fidget spinners and attempt to balance and land them on different things. Fidget spinners were originally created to help aide people with attention deficit disorders, anxiety and autism. However, many students just play with fidget spinners as a type of toy that can distract others around them in school. The predicament that rises out of this is whether to allow fidget spinners to help the people that can benefit from them or ban fidget spinners to stop the students who distract and get on the nerves of their peers and teachers.

While in use, fidget spinners make a distinguishable noise which can keep other students unable to focus on their work. Also, many students try to balance fidget spinners in difficult places which leads to them dropping, which causes distraction. Senior, Alyssa Fameli, said, “More people should be aware that fidget spinners can help people and less people should just play with fidget spinners to look cool.” Many students agree with her opinion along with other schools who took it a step further by banning fidget spinners. Schools in New Haven and Bristol have already banned students from bringing fidget spinners to school and many more are sure to follow.

On the other hand, many students are on the side of supporting fidget spinners. These students feel that fidget spinners help them focus in class and others enjoy doing cool tricks with them. These students have spent anywhere from a few dollars to $40 on fidget spinners and strongly disagree with banning fidget spinners from Foran. Senior, Jacob Pabon, said, “I spent $20 on fidget spinners because they make me cool.”    

Right now, it’s uncertain whether or not fidget spinners will become a new standard or whether they will just fade into history as the latest fad.One thing that is certain is that right now fidget spinners are soaring with popularity and problems have risen out of that popularity. Many people feel that fidget spinners help them focus at school, while at the same time others feel they are a distraction. As long as fidget spinners remain popular, this debate will remain relevant unless fidget spinners are eventually banned.