If you have been online lately, you would know the new obsession among teens. Throughout Mills, NeeDohs are bound to be found in every classroom. From hall to hall, this is the new version of the Labubu’s found hanging on everyone’s bag… except in their hands. NeeDohs are the big new trend that has teens hooked and hunting at Target, Five Below, Five Little Monkeys, and many other retail stores.
With the sudden rise in popularity, it has become an everyday thing for students in class to fidget with. One student who collects NeeDohs is Violet Martin (12). Martin is a senior at Mills who constantly sees students with NeeDohs or fidgets. “I think NeeDohs are really fun and I enjoy playing with them when my hands are looking for something to do while I’m watching TV at home,” Martin mentions.
Olivia Nguyen (9), another NeeDoh collector, explained, “I think NeeDohs are fun and relaxing to play with. I mostly use NeeDohs in classes like math and English where I have to focus for long periods of time.” Nguyen also explained that she believes Needohs can help students stay calm and focused, but they can also be a distraction in the classroom.
In class, teachers debate whether or not NeeDohs benefit students. Alexis Castañeda, who prefers to go by Alexis, is the biology and biotechnology teacher at Mills who has enforced a limit on students sharing their fidgets only in the first five minutes of class. “Like any toy, NeeDohs can certainly be distracting due to both their novelty and many students’ desire to use fidgets during class. Students tend to want to share their toys with their friends, which is totally understandable, but can at times be a distraction from focusing on the work at hand.”
Although Alexis believes that NeeDohs can be a disturbance, she also sees the beneficial side to the fidget toy. “I think the use of NeeDohs and fidgets is often great because it has us think about how we support students holistically. Students come into the classroom with all kinds of stressors (both positive and negative), and provide teachers with ways to help students mitigate those stressors in class to help students show up more fully. It is important to note, however, that fidgets are not replacements for support for mental health and are instead coping tools,” Alexis says.
“In my view, the wider acceptance of fidgets has helped us as teachers think about how to have conversations with students about mental health and wellbeing and think about how oftentimes behaviors that we find to be challenging to deal with in class might stem from concerns of mental health,” she added.
The sudden hype in fidgets such as the Squishy Dumplings and NeeDohs has people questioning whether the hype will last. Martin explains, “I think [the NeeDohs will] probably end up dying down like a lot of other trends that come and go with social media.”. Alexis also agrees by stating, “I think the hype of NeeDohs is likely to fade down as do other fidgets. I think of the fidget spinners that were more popular when I was younger. While I certainly don’t see spinners anywhere near the amount I used to, the idea of an external way of recentering your attention and managing low levels of stress.”
Meghan DeGoey, the marketing director at Five Little Monkeys in Burlingame, shares how NeeDohs have positively and negatively impacted the locally owned toy store. “It has gone in both directions! On the positive side, lots of new people are discovering our stores and learning about all the great things we do! On the negative side, we feel terrible when we sell out and can’t get NeeDoh for everyone!”
For me personally, I believe that NeeDohs are a helpful tool towards a learning environment. With the stress that comes along with school, such as tests, essays and assignments, it can be overwhelming for many students. Although I possess a strong love for NeeDohs by collecting them, I understand that some students use fidgets to distract not only themselves, but students around them as well.
Like fidget spinners, pop-its and many more iconic fidgets, they all had their time to shine before the hype died. Social media is what reaches a variety of audiences, leading to the new trends being created. NeeDohs are very popular at the moment, but with a newly discovered creation or invention, they will at some point be retired in the pile of fidgets.
