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Fidgeting is the act of moving about restlessly in a way that is not (socially recognized as) essential to ongoing tasks or events. Fidgeting may involve playing with one's fingers, hair, or personal objects (e.g. glasses, pens or items of clothing). Fidgeting is commonly used as a label for unexplained or subconscious activities and postural movements that people perform while seated. A common act of fidgeting is to bounce one's leg repeatedly. Rings are another common focus of fidgeting; variations include ring spinning, twirling or rolling along a table. Classrooms are sites of fidgeting, and traditionally teachers and students have viewed fidgeting as a sign of diminished attention, which is summarized by the statement, “Concentration of consciousness, and concentration of movements; diffusion of ideas and diffusion of movements go together.”
Fidgeting is the act of moving about restlessly in a way that is not (socially recognized as) essential to ongoing tasks or events. Fidgeting may involve playing with one's fingers, hair, or personal objects (e.g. glasses, pens or items of clothing). Fidgeting is commonly used as a label for unexplained or subconscious activities and postural movements that people perform while seated. A common act of fidgeting is to bounce one's leg repeatedly. Rings are another common focus of fidgeting; variations include ring spinning, twirling or rolling along a table. Classrooms are sites of fidgeting, and traditionally teachers and students have viewed fidgeting as a sign of diminished attention, which is summarized by the statement, “Concentration of consciousness, and concentration of movements; diffusion of ideas and diffusion of movements go together.”
Causes and effects
Fidgeting may be a result of nervousness,frustration
In psychology, frustration is a common emotional response to opposition, related to anger, annoyance and disappointment. Frustration arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of an individual's will or goal and is likely to incr ...
, agitation, boredom
In conventional usage, boredom, ennui, or tedium is an emotional and occasionally psychological state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, is listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occup ...
, ADHD, excitement
Excitation, excite, exciting, or excitement may refer to:
* Excitation (magnetic), provided with an electrical generator or alternator
* Excite Ballpark, located in San Jose, California
* Excite (web portal), web portal owned by IAC
* Electron ex ...
, or a combination of these.
When interested in a task, a seated person will suppress their fidgeting, a process described as Non-Instrumental Movement Inhibition (NIMI). Some education researchers consider fidgeting, along with noise-making, as clear signs of inattention or low lecture quality, although educators point out that active engagement can take place without constantly directing attention to the instructor (i.e. engagement and attention are related but not equivalent ). Fidgeting is often a subconscious act and is increased during spontaneous mind-wandering
Mind-wandering is a broad term with no currently universal definition. According to McMillan, Kaufmann and Singer (2013) mind-wandering consists of 3 different subtypes: positive constructive daydreaming, guilty fear of failure, and poor attention ...
. Some researchers have proposed that fidgeting is not only an indicator of diminishing attention, but is also a subconscious attempt to increase arousal in order to improve attention. While inattention is strongly associated with poor learning and poor information recall, research by Dr. Karen Pine and colleagues found that children that are allowed to fidget with their hands performed better in memory and learning tests. A 2014 study also found that children with ADHD performed better on some cognitive tasks when they are engaged in "more intense pontaneousphysical activity", although no such correlation was seen in children without ADHD.
Fidgeting is considered a nervous habit, though it does have some underlying benefits. People who fidget regularly tend to weigh less than people who do not fidget because they burn more calories
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of o ...
than those who remain still, which is called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). It has been reported that fidgeting burns about 350 extra calories per day, which could add up to about 10 to 30 pounds (4 - 13 kg) a year.
Fidgeting may be a result of genetics and some are born with a propensity to be fidgety. Fidgeting can also be a medical sign, as seen in hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism is the condition that occurs due to excessive production of thyroid hormones by the thyroid gland. Thyrotoxicosis is the condition that occurs due to excessive thyroid hormone of any cause and therefore includes hyperthyroidis ...
. Hyperthyroid patients may be restless, become agitated easily, display fine tremors, and have trouble concentrating.
Fidget toys
There are several devices that aim to aid fidgeting, including fidget cubes,fidget spinner
A fidget spinner is a toy that consists of a ball bearing in the center of a multi-lobed (typically two or three) flat structure made from metal or plastic designed to spin along its axis with pressure. Fidget spinners became trending toys in 2 ...
s, fidget sticks (kururin), and fidget pens. These "fidget toys" are typically intended to help students with autism
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
or ADHD focus better, and come with a variety of buttons and switches that the user can play with.
See also
* Doodle * Proteans *Stereotypy
A stereotypy (, or ) is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing, crossing and uncrossing of legs, and marching in place. They are ...
* Stimming
Self-stimulatory behavior, also known as "stimming" and self-stimulation, is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, moving objects, or other repetitive behaviors. Such behaviors (also scientifically known as ' stereotypies') are fo ...
References
{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41897-2005Jan27.html , title=Fidgeting Helps Separate the Lean From the Obese, Study Finds , work=washingtonpost.com , date= 2005-01-28 , access-date=2009-10-02 , first=Rob , last=Stein {{cite web , url=http://pediatrics.about.com/od/weeklyquestion/a/04_fidgeting.htm , title=Bad Habits and Fidgeting At School , publisher=Pediatrics.about.com , access-date=2009-10-02 {{cite news , url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4437171.stm , title=UK {{! Education {{! Fidgeting children 'learn more{{'- , publisher=BBC News , date=2005-04-12 , access-date=2009-10-02 {{cite book , title=Endocrinology in Clinical Practice , last1=Harris , first1=Philip E. , last2=Bouloux , first2=Pierre-Marc G., year=2014, edition=2nd , publisher=CRC Press , page=259 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jaPSBQAAQBAJ&dq=thyroxine+fidgeting&pg=PA269, isbn=9781841849522 Habits Symptoms and signs of mental disorders