Fidget toys for grown ups
For anyone with children in their lives I’m sure you will be familiar with the craze of the fidget toy that seems to have taken over our house in the last couple of years. What started off as an aid for children with adhd, autism, cerebral palsy and many other conditions, soon became a mainstream toy ‘must have’ on most birthday lists.
As a parent I have the best excuse to have a play with these toys myself. I don’t always feel this is appropriate though. I can’t take my nieces buggy buddy toy to a meeting and there’s not even a box of old toys or the faithful old abacus sat in the doctor’s waiting room anymore thanks to covid and cutbacks! This is where the need for fidget jewellery comes in.
When I first started designing and making jewellery I knew I wanted more from it than decoration. What really called out to me was the potential it had in offering something to ‘play’ with. I often catch myself absent mindedly playing with the pendant on a necklace chain, or twisting a ring around my finger and have also observed many friends and family doing the same.
I believe we have a built-in need to distract part of our mind in order to fully focus on a task. It may be listening to music when you work, doodling on a notepad when on the phone, or clicking the end of a pen when you’re in a meeting. I know I can’t usually stand in the waiting line for the school gates on my own for more than 2 minutes before I’m getting my phone out and scrolling through social media just so I’m doing something.
Fidget jewellery isn’t something you come across every day but it has actually been around a long time. Ancient Tibetan Buddhists would use a ‘worry ring’ with sacred scripts engraved on them in prayer and meditation. The distractive action of moving the ring around its core would help to block out external distractions and bring a sense of calm to the mind, body and soul.
There are many other examples of fidget toys used throughout history and there is solid medical research to suggest why they are so effective. Professor of Psychiatry, John Ratey found that fidgeting is a natural way of increasing levels of dopamine in our brains- a chemical that eases anxiety and aids focus.
In the 1700’s Author and Scientist Benjamin Franklin said “Idle hands are the devil's playthings”, further supporting the concept of a fidget toy. If your hands are physically distracted you can focus your mind on something else more fully. Fiddling, spinning, sliding or moving a small object absent-mindedly can bring a real sense of calm. With all of the pressures and strains of living in a digital, social and virtual world I think we crave something more real to connect with. As a modern civilisation we need grounding. We need something real. Something tangible that you can hold and feel. We need fidget jewellery.