Fidget spinners are everywhere. You probably own one, your kids probably own them, and even your pets have developed opposable thumbs overnight in order to get a piece of the action. And now, just as the craze is peaking, there are reports of fidget spinners exploding. Because of course.

Fidget spinners have been around for a long time, with similar devices to the one everyone owns today invented in 1993. However, it took until 2017 for fidget spinners to become a craze, and now, months after schoolchildren started playing with them, their stock is dwindling in value.

Bluetooth-enabled Fidget Spinners

The popularity of fidget spinners won't be helped by the news that they have started exploding in people's houses. These aren't your bog standard fidget spinners made of plastic and ball bearings. Instead, these are Bluetooth-enabled fidget spinners which double up as speakers.

The first incident happened in Alabama, with Kimberly Allums of Gardendale telling WBRC, "I was downstairs and all I heard was, ‘fire, fire'. The fidget spinner wasn’t smoking, it was in flames." This was after the fidget spinner had been charging for less than 45 minutes.

The second incident happened in Michigan, with Michelle Carr of Fenton telling WEYI, "They’re just simple, little things you spin and I love to play with them. I know there are tons of kids who want to go get them, but if you plug them in, just stay by and make sure it’s charged and it doesn’t catch."

This isn't a problem with fidget spinners per se, but with poorly made and poorly housed lithium-ion batteries. If a company the size of Samsung can get it wrong, as it did with the Galaxy Note 7, then the Chinese companies throwing these together certainly can't be trusted.

Let's Rid the World of Fidget Spinners

We're tempted to use this as an opportunity to rid the world of fidget spinners. If we blew this story up (no pun intended) to imply that all fidget spinners are dangerous perhaps people would start binning them. But no, just don't buy fidget spinners which have batteries in them. Sorted.

Do you own a fidget spinner? If so, what made you buy one? And how quickly did you get bored of it? If you haven't bought a fidget spinner yet, why not? What do you think about these reports of fidget spinners exploding? Please let us know in the comments below!

Image Credit: Chris Yarzab via Flickr