“While spinners are nothing more than a Detroit-based soul act from the early 1970s to most people, early-adopter entrepreneurs are beginning to sense a potential fidget-based gold rush.” The NYT’s Alex Williams pieces together a surprisingly long timeline to track How Fidget Spinners Became a Hula-Hoop for Generation Z. As a parent, this trend is equal parts interesting (physical fidget devices are becoming huge in an era of digital distractions), irritating (seriously, these things are ridiculous), and liberating (the highly nonsensical fidget spinners have seemed to replace the much more insidious and terrible bottle flipping-trend).