do you have anything to replace earbud spinning? cause i do it all the time and it annoys the heck outta people
Anon, I’ve had something like twelve hours of sleep over four nights. My brain is not functioning. So, to be honest, I don’t know if you mean spinning an earbud, as in twirling an ear section from a headphone set, or spinning an earbud, as in twirling a cotton bud in your ear. (I have a feeling I should know, but I don’t.) If it’s the former, I can make suggestions; if it’s the latter … I don’t know. If you’re after the feel of something to spin in your hands, it’s less difficult, but if you’re after the feel of the bud turning in your ear, I have absolutely no idea as how to replace that. I might have to come back to that one when my body decides it’s willing to sleep again!
(To make it worse, it’s not really recommended that people use cotton buds in ears anyway, so anything that replaces it runs into the same problem of not being great in your ears.)
So, to cut down on blank staring at the computer screen and attempt some measure of usefulness, I’ll discuss the things I can figure out.
The problem is, I think, that if you’re spinning the earbud from a headphone set in your hands, and that’s annoying, most other replacement stims that you can spin and twirl are also like to annoy people. I’ve got a list of things you can spin or make to spin here, but I really don’t see how spinning your earphones is any different from twirling a Tangle or the end of a roller bead lanyard over your fingers and through the air. Unless it’s a small thing like a spinner, that can be held low in your hands and kept more unobtrusive, these things are potentially extremely annoying to others.
(This said: anon, if this is a stim you really like, give yourself some private time in which to do it. Five minutes spinning the earbud before you go to sleep, for example. We’ve all got stims that annoy or impact others, but that doesn’t mean we can’t and shouldn’t enjoy them when there’s nobody else around to irritate. I think you’re that much more likely to be willing to replace the stim around others when you know that you’re not being denied the stim entirely. And, assuming this is a headphone, if you’ve got space and are careful of not hitting objects - just be a little mindful about how you do it - this really isn’t a harmful stim. We can acknowledge that some stims are annoying for those around us while still acknowledging the truth that they aren’t dangerous or problematic! Give yourself private space to do this stim and enjoy it, please.)
So. In all honesty, I don’t think we can replace the spinning. I think our best bet is to give you something to do with your hands, which means looking at more standard, unobtrusive fidget toys. In particular, I’m thinking toys that have greater movement of your hands and fingers are more like to be successful for you - just stroking a soft toy, for example, isn’t like to occupy you as a replacement and is like to just leave you unconsciously reaching for the earbud.
The toys I’m thinking are:
(Note: all links go to tags collecting posts about where to find that particular item.)
- Spinners. They’re everywhere at the moment, so finding one to try shouldn’t be a problem. You can hold these close to your body, so it should be less distracting, and since you need to hold it in one hand and spin it with the other, it should keep both hands occupied.
- Tangles. Now that there’s a flood of knock-offs on eBay, it’s pretty easy for most people to get their hands on a Tangle. (The differences are ones of texture, noise and weight, not function.) Note that I need two hands to work a Tangle Jr, but most people find it only occupies one hand, so if you want to engage both hands, try looking for the larger Tangles (Therapy, Jumbo, etc). There’s a post here on how to use a Tangle, if you need some inspiration.
- Fidget Cubes. Likewise, these are also getting pretty easy to access, if you don’t mind a knock-off (which seem to vary widely in quality, ease of use and noise, so getting a good one is a little pot luck). If you like a lot of small, very repetitive movements, this is an ideal fidget for you and should keep your hands and fingers very occupied.
- Puzzles: wood puzzles, snake puzzles, serpent puzzles. These all give you some of the movement of a Tangle plus the challenge of trying to make particular arrangements and shapes. Again, very good for keeping the hands occupied and moving.
- Chain fidgets. Again, very good for constant hand movements, as you’re just constantly turning the fidget over and over. I’ve seen these available in a variety of sizes, and if you DIY these, you can make them as big and small as you like or need. These aren’t as accessible as some of the items here, but I’ve seen them on eBay and Etsy, and they’re available in many OT and stim toy shops.
- Bead Rings and Roller Bead Lanyards. Also easy to DIY! The rings can be noisy depending on the types of beads used (plastic pony beads are quieter; metal-lined glass beads are louder) but, like a spinner, require you to continually turn the beads around and around. The lanyards can be rolled across a knee or bench/table, but clicking the beads up and down the strand requires one hand to hold the end and the other hand to move the beads, giving you a lot of hand movement. Plus the lanyards are easy to attach to a bag or belt loop, if you don’t want to make a wearable lanyard.
- Twiddle. This is rather like a Tangle, just thinner, longer and with clips easier to pull apart. It’s designed to be either twisted like a Tangle, scrunched, or pulled apart and put back together in different shapes, making it like the fabulous child of a Tangle and a snake puzzle. This is more expensive a fidget than most things on this list, and mostly only available from stim toy and OT stores, but it’s great for occupying the hands. Here’s a post on how to clip the Twiddle pieces back together!
I’m not sure how good an answer this for you, anon, but I hope it helps. Feel free to ask again if I’ve approached this in the wrong direction for you; I’ll try to do better the second time around. If our followers have ideas, please feel free to comment!
