What the rise of fidget toys means for neurodivergence

Fidget toys, like NeeDohs, are sold out and  banned in classrooms. Journalist Anna North joins us to unpack how fidget toys went from gag gifts to a generational obsession, and what that shift reveals about neurodivergence, attention, and play. Plus, fidget toys are not just for kids. We look at how they are destigmatizing fidgeting for neurodivergent adults. And we dig into the science behind fidgeting, the history of the fidget spinner, and whether this wave of acceptance for sensory needs will survive. 

• Read: Why your kid is obsessed with squishy toys

• Watch: Can I get rid of my adult sensory issues?

Anna North: See that one's really squishy. This is much firmer.

Rae Jacobson: I think the internal structure of that one appeals more to me, but I like the corner factor of this one. Also, I feel like it does not feel like it's going to explode.

Anna: I hope that's true. I hope I don't get goo on me.

Rae: Like a lot of neurodivergent people, I fidget. A lot. And recently, I got to spend an hour chatting and fidgeting with Anna North. She's a journalist and an author and the writer of the "Kids Today" newsletter for Vox. I reached out because she'd written a great newsletter about fidget toys, a subject that's kind of always on my mind, but especially lately.

As a lifelong, unsubtle fidgeter, I was always getting in trouble for doodling in class, or drawing on my hand, or chewing gum, or a myriad of other tiny but apparently forbidden things. A friend once joked that I'd make a terrible spy, heartbreaking, because I'm constantly rolling up tiny strips of paper or creating a trail of trash leading directly to my current location.

It is kind of funny. But also not, because being in trouble all the time sucks. Especially when fidgeting is the thing that actually helps you concentrate, something I could rarely get my teachers to believe. And because for much of my life it's something I found kind of embarrassing, a very public sign that my ADHD brain does not work the way everyone else's does.

But recently, there's been a shift. Fidget toys, they're everywhere. Ones that spin, ones you squeeze, ones you pop, sometimes accidentally. And ones called NeeDohs that are, I kid you not, such a fad amongst the children that they are going for like $60 online. $60 for a ball filled with slime.

Anna: The main toy store that we go to has signs that say like, "No NeeDohs. We have no idea when we'll get NeeDohs. Stop asking about NeeDohs." Kids still come in and ask about NeeDohs.

Rae: As the conversation around neurodiversity grows, these toys are becoming much more common. And in their own goofy way, helping to destigmatize fidgeting in a way that I never saw coming.

But it's not all smooth sailing. Like any fad, the normalization of fidgets feels like it could be more of a symptom of a moment, not a movement. And I have to wonder what this will look like long term.

So in this episode of "Hyperfocus", a brief history of fidget toys. And we go beyond the fad and ask: What does the rise of the fidget toy mean for inveterate fidgeters like me?

Anna: When I started looking into this, I started remembering all the squishy toys that we did have when I was a kid. So do you remember Stretch Armstrong?

Rae: Yes!

Anna: There was an urban legend among my brother's friends that a kid had eaten the inside of a Stretch Armstrong and immediately grown six inches.

Rae: That's a great urban legend.

Anna: It's a great story. Like, don't eat the inside of a Stretch Armstrong. I learned it's made of corn syrup and glass particles. So like, don't eat that. But anyway, that guy actually was invented in the seventies.

Of course, when millennials were growing up is the time of Gak, is the time of like, do you remember Floam?

Rae: I do remember Floam. It was pretty gross. It would get really dirty because it had styrofoam pieces that are white.

Anna: So many things it would stick to, all fabrics and carpets and stuff, and you'd be like, I don't know how that got there.

Rae: Yeah. So growing up, my generation, we totally had squishiness. But it wasn't really framed as being for fidgeting. It was framed as either being, you know, just something funny, or being gross.

Anna: Yes, there was a sort of range of things that made farting noises.

Rae: Totally. It's really kind of with the fidget spinner that there becomes this idea that it's good for you or therapeutic or something people might want to do to help them focus or calm themselves.

Anna: And I think this is happening right around when there's becoming more awareness around ADHD and autism in schools, when there's becoming a little bit more awareness around just what fidgeting does or might do.

And then also like in education, there's becoming more emphasis on social-emotional learning. So classrooms are looking for ways to help kids kind of regulate and calm down. So it's as this awareness is starting to rise that you see toys being marketed specifically for fidgeting.

Rae: Interesting. This is maybe a silly question, but who invented the fidget spinner? Like, who was the origin of that?

Anna: Yeah, it's kind of a sad story because it's a mom. And she invented it sort of to help her play with her child because the mom had a medical condition that was making it hard for her to play with toys with her kid. So she wanted to invent something that she would really be able to manipulate and her kid would be able to manipulate and they can kind of share that experience.

And then the sad thing is it took off and I do not believe that she saw a ton of money from that, which is a bummer. So, justice for the inventor of the fidget spinner mom.

Rae: Yeah, justice for fidget spinner mom. But it's interesting to know that that came out of somebody who was trying to find a way to interact with the sort of able-bodied world.

Anna: Yes, totally.

Rae: That's really interesting. So fidgets kind of have a root in that.

Anna: Right. So totally already something that has, as you say, a purpose that's not just like, I'm going to gross out my friends. Which, not to say that's not a good and worthy purpose, it totally is. Especially if you're an eight-year-old boy.

(05:11) The connection between tactile play and classroom movement.

Rae: In your piece, you had this wonderful thing about the tactile nature of it, that kids sort of need these fine motor play things that they're no longer getting. What did you learn about that?

Anna: Yeah, so one of the kids that I talked with — I try to talk to kids as much as I can for the newsletter, and it's always really fun, and it's always really revelatory. And one kid was saying, well, you know, in class, I can't always get up and move around, so the NeeDoh is a way for me to have movement.

Which I thought made total sense. And it is true that kids are not able to get up and move around very much in class. It's true that we've seen recess decline a bunch. And I think there's some evidence too that there's been a decline in the kind of messy, gross play that I think some people remember from their youth.

Not that I was allowed to play in mud at school or anything, but that kind of play, there's more and more evidence that it's good for kids and there are not a lot of opportunities for them to get it.

Rae: There is this kind of, even beyond children, I've also heard adults saying that they're much more stressed out than they used to be. They have a lot more anxiety. People are feeling less comfortable for a million different reasons, like there's a lot of disruption. And something like this can bring calm. And you had mentioned in your piece that it made you feel calmer.

Anna: Yeah. So I'm not the most anti-screen parent or anti-screen journalist, but I did, especially for writing this story, keep hearing, you know, there's a need for experiences that are tactile and hands-on that are not screen-mediated. And both adults and kids aren't getting as many of those experiences as we used to.

When I was writing this story, I was like, I think we have some of these in the house. And we had this dumpling. I would have brought him, but my daughter banned me from using him anymore because I squished him so much that his little face came off.

Rae: If it's any comfort, I had literally the exact same experience with my daughter. Except she squished it so much that the face came off, and then I had to draw it back on with a Sharpie.

Anna: Yeah, that's what she drew it back on with a Sharpie, it looks really cute. She's like, "Please don't play with that anymore. Stop touching it, Mom."

But it did help me write the story. I felt like I was squishing this guy instead of what I sometimes will do, which is check my email a million times, which I don't need to do, or look at Bluesky, or be playing on my phone randomly, which I think is just a lot of times our default sort of time-wasting fidget. But this is a totally different fidgeting experience, and I think in some ways a more positive one.

Rae: So one of the things that we are sort of trying to crack that's confusing to me, and that I feel like you can help me figure out, is the science behind fidget toys. You mentioned that part of the reason that they're gaining more acceptance or awareness is because people are also becoming more aware of neurodivergence, and what is beneficial to us and just being a person in the world.

But there's science behind the way these things are made, and I don't just mean whatever baffling chemistry creates this texture.

Anna: Yeah, so the interesting thing that you find when you start delving into the science of fidgeting is everyone will tell you we need a lot more research on this. There is not enough research on, for example, the ways that neurodivergent kids play or the kinds of body movements that might help them regulate or make them feel a certain way.

For example, one thing that one expert told me is that for anyone, regardless of neurotype, fidgeting can help you stay alert. So if you are someone that falls asleep in class, for example —

Rae: I wouldn't know anything about that. Me neither. Definitely never happens. Personally, I can't get through anything longer than five minutes without fidgeting. I'm fidgeting right now. Because fidgeting is a core symptom of ADHD.

And we have a decent body of evidence that for folks with ADHD, fidgeting can help with attention and regulation. We're talking shaking your legs, doodling, scratching the delightful silvery coating off a gum wrapper. So good.

But research on fidget toys? There's some evidence that fidget spinners specifically may be more distracting than helpful. But there's very little scientific data on most of these toys, including the squishy ones that have taken over the market. But what we do have are tons of personal experiences from neurodivergent people like myself.

Anna: There's lots and lots of self-reports, often of people who have one type of neurodivergence or another, saying this is something that really helps me, which really is enough in a lot of cases for providers to offer these. Like you'll see them in therapists' offices.

So there is wide acceptance, I think, among neurodivergent folks and people who work with them that these can be really beneficial. But what there isn't is good hard research on what are the most satisfying, what fidgets are good for different things. Like, we don't have that, and that's kind of a bummer.

Rae: I think there's something about not having the research that makes these feel like toys versus tools. And it would be nice to have that. One of my big concerns and questions about this is there has been this rise in these being marketed with words that are neurodivergent-adjacent.

And I'm curious, how many have you seen that have words attached like attention or sensory or, you know, even self-regulation? Like these ideas that these things are kind of touching on neurodivergence but not living in the neurodivergence. That makes me anxious, I have to say.

(10:22) How fidget toys use neurodivergent-adjacent marketing.

Anna: So I will say that NeeDoh, for example, which is the one that's really hot right now, their website does not really use that language. They're not necessarily marketing these guys as for your health.

Other folks do, and you'll definitely see it. I think what is interesting too is I think there is a general awareness among Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids that a lot of folks might have some features of ADHD, some features of autism, that a lot of folks might experience focus issues or attention issues during a certain time, and that we all have sensory needs regardless of our neurotype. Like I actually think that's something that kids really get.

And so you will see like the word sensory used essentially attributed to literally every toy that is basically sold now. And I think one, yeah, that is diluting and it has some problems. But on the other hand, I think it's actually reflecting the way that kids experience the world, which is that they kind of already know they all have different needs around like, do they want to squish something right now? Do they need some quiet? I do think this is something that kids are more encouraged to talk about, and I think that is positive.

Rae: Absolutely. And I think on some level, watching grown-ups try to absorb that understanding that kids sort of naturally have because it's the water they swim in now is interesting.

I have to wonder, this is something I kind of speculate generally about, but there's a lot of stuff like universal design, this idea that what's good for people who are differently abled in any way is usually beneficial for everyone. These to me feel very much like a universal design thing. These things that are good for neurodivergent people are kind of helpful for everyone.

But there's also this flip of it that I'm interested to hear what you think about, which is when anything from our community makes it mainstream, there's a little bit of excitement because it's like, oh, now I can fidget and nobody's paying attention to me. And now there's this kind of acceptance and understanding.

But there is a fear also that maybe these are not the fad, kindness and awareness and inclusivity about neurodivergence is the fad. And I do wonder about that, because we've already heard some things about schools are banning them, people are kind of reactive about them. I'm interested to know what do you think is going to come next?

Anna: Yeah, this is a really good question. I mean, I think we talked a little bit about the sort of fad aspect of these and the social media aspect of these, and I do think a lot of the kind of hoopla and banning is coming from that.

So in addition to kids enjoying to squish these and they feel good, right, they also have become this thing where there will be specific drops of different ones. And then people will do a TikTok of it. And kids and adults will swarm a toy store that has new drops.

So that feature has little to do with the fidget aspect, little to do with any kind of psychological or neurological benefits, and is just about the way toys operate in our culture right now, which is that as a toy company you kind of want your toy to go viral, you kind of want your toy to be on TikTok.

And then as soon as it does, then it becomes this thing in schools that's really distracting where kids are comparing their NeeDohs with one another. "Do you have a rare NeeDoh?" A kid wants another kid's NeeDoh. Kids talked to me about trading them, which sounds cute, and also sounds like the kind of thing that a teacher would be really annoyed about really quick.

Rae: Stickers. Stickers is what that puts in my mind.

Anna: Totally. Stickers, slap bracelets. We had Pogs growing up. Like any trendy toy.

Rae: Did you ever figure out actually how to use Pogs or did you just collect them?

Anna: No, we played with them. Okay, so you're better than I am. I just had them. Like coins.

Rae: We played with them. And then for some reason, my brother and I decided to bury them in the yard. So somewhere in Los Angeles, someone one day will excavate a —

Anna: Some future alien civilization will be like, "Oh, what is this? This must have been sacred to them."

Rae: That's right. Something important.

Anna: So I think with these, to the extent that they are problematic in schools, a lot of that is coming from virality and comparison. But I do think that there's a school of thought that's like, oh, the fidgeting is bad.

Or if you see these becoming too popular, the problem is people needing to fidget, and not the problem is we always have cycles of toys becoming popular and kids fighting over them. And this has happened since time immemorial, and okay, ban the toy I guess or whatever.

So I think the danger, I guess, to me is exactly what you said, that people will believe that fidgeting is a fad, or that they'll believe that ADHD is a fad, or that sensory needs aren't real. I mean, the kinds of things that are kind of floating in the culture anyway. And then if kids are getting in trouble for playing with these in class, then it could reinforce some of those stereotypes that I think are floating around.

(15:06) The potential backlash against mainstream fidget toys.

Rae: Yeah, I think that's my concern is that there's always a backlash. And so when something that is vital to a community reaches this kind of virality, like you said, and has an awesome clash with capitalism, you're going to find these things that some of it's benefit, and some of it's growth, and some of it's like, oh, we get to be destigmatized and normalized now.

And then some of it is going to be the backside of that wave, which is, everybody says they need a fidget. Like maybe it's just people want to play with toys at school, or grown-ups are trying to be kid-like, or whatever these things are that we apply to something that seems exciting.

Anna: Right. I think we have a baseline of fidget toy awareness that we will probably be able to return to, where kids do have options for sensory stimuli and I don't think we're going to completely get rid of them.

Rae: I like that spin. I like that. I mean, here we are sitting here, two adult professional grown-ups at work, doing this, and there's something really wonderful about that. And I do wonder if maybe the things that bubble up from kid world into adult world, I guess part of my hope is maybe that we can carry the torch forward if the backlash does come.

Anna: I hope so too. And I think we can. And I think we can learn a lot from Gen Z and Gen Alpha because I think they are more comfortable just being like, these are my needs, because they have not been taught to hide them in the same way.

Rae: Many thanks to Anna North for fidgeting with me today.

If you like this episode, you might also like my interview with New York Times reporter Ginia Bellafante on whether school may be contributing to rising rates of diagnosis for ADHD and autism. But for now, thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.

"Hyperfocus" is hosted by me, Rae Jacobson. Our producer is Cody Nelson, and Anna Rothschild is our senior podcast producer. Julie Subrin helps with booking.

Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions. Our research correspondent is Dr. K.J. Wynne. Video is produced by Max Mackenzie and edited by Alyssa Shea. Our associate director of content development is Calvin Knie.

Briana Berry is our production director, and Neil Drumming is our editorial director. If you have any questions for us, or ideas for future episodes, write me an email or send a voice memo to hyperfocus@understood.org.

This show is brought to you by Understood.org. Our executive directors are Laura Key, Scott Cocchiere, and Jordan Davidson. Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give.