Fidget Cube

Seth Smith

Mr. Rueter

Economics

3 March 2017

Fidget Cube

Fidget cubes have been very popular over the last few weeks, the fidget cube has 6 sides with something different on each side of the cube. One side has a switch, another with buttons, a indent which you rube to reduce anxiety. The demand for fidget cubes has shot up in the past few months. With only $15,000 to create this strange little cube, their ended their campaign with $6.4 million. Each cube costs $19, but it has many qualities that will have you say, “It’s money well spent.” After a close study of students at PHS who have fidget cubes, I asked them on a scale from 1-to-10, 1 being worst thing ever created, 10 being very useful, I got an answer of a solid 8. It’s a brilliantly useless toy for nervous fiddling.

As the amount of sales of fidget cubes go up, the price increases causing inflation. This little cube will surely affect the microeconomics. Some customers that have a fidget cube want to follow trend. They don’t actually have a problem, they just “want” a fidget cube. When others who do have a nervous fiddling problem, they “need” a fidget cube. When the company, “Kickstarter,” started their campaign, within a week, they blew past their goal of raising $15,000 and settled with 1.4 million.

In the above picture, it explains all the features of the fidget cube and how it helps the consumer relax. Many people wonder why people fidget, They think that it’s a coping mechanism for people with ADD. But according to Roland Rotz and Sarah D. Wright,  “If something we are engaged in is not interesting enough to sustain our focus, the additional sensory-motor input that is mildly stimulating, interesting, or entertaining allows our brains to become fully engaged and allows us to sustain focus on the primary activity in which we are participating.” In other words, the authors think that fidgeting distracts the parts of the brain that become bored so that the other parts can pay attention to what their reading, hearing, or seeing.

The above picture shows a table of what each of the normal fidget items that are used do and how the fidget cube fits all the factors of those items into one. “Pens were a huge inspiration in the design process of Fidget Cube. They are probably one of the most commonly used fidget "tools". We like to see Fidget Cube as more of a fidget ‘toolbox’. You don't have to be constrained to simple clicking, you can pick your poison based on your mood.”(Kickstarter) The fidget cube licks are rolls like a pen would do, it as a indent on one wide to rub your thumb on, just like you would on a worry stone. It has two sides that spin, just like a key ring and it feels cool in your hand.

"Fidget Cube: A Vinyl Desk Toy" Kickstarter. Matthew and Mark McLachlan, n.d. Web. 07 Mar.

2017.

Hullinger, Jessica. "The Science Of Why We Fidget While We Work | Fast Company | The Future

Of Business." Fast Company. Fast Company, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Wong, Joon Ian. "A toy for fidgety office workers has outraised its goal by millions of dollars on

Kickstarter." Quartz. Quartz, 16 Sept. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

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