In the meantime, the watchdog advises parents to supervise children playing with fidget spinners and to buy them from sellers they trust. Kazakov explained that according to experts the item could be used as “an object for zombifying” yourself, shutting down critical thinking and experiencing a kind of “hypnosis.” 
 
 Featuring a report from a psychologist named Svetlana Filatova, the program claimed that spinners can help the dexterity of very young children but beyond that, the spinner “dulls” a person’s mind and focusing only on the spinner “takes you to a different world.” 
 
 This was not the channel’s first on air assault against the fidget spinner, as the hazards associated with the device made another evening news broadcast last month. He underlined the lack of medical evidence that the item had many benefits but that the interest in it among scientists “is not big.” 
 
 “Why the spinner has become so popular in Russia now is a mystery,” Sokolov said.
– Fidget spinners are the hot new children's toy this year—but maybe they're also an American plot to topple the Russian government? "Those who understand political technologies, they understand very clearly that this simple thing is controlling the masses," the New York Times quotes the editor in chief of PolitRussia.ru as saying. Multiple reports about the dangers of fidget spinners have been appearing on Russian state-run media in recent weeks. It started with Rossiya 24 claiming opposition politicians were using them to gain the support of young Russians. An opposition leader was seen playing with a fidget spinner in court, and the toys were being sold at an opposition protest, the Telegraph reports. A reporter for Rossiya 24 said fidget spinners make it "easy to divert attention from the real problems." But the fidget spinner phenomena could be even more insidious than that. Commentators on Rossiya 24 said the toys might be an attempt to "zombify people" in Russia and make them open to manipulation. Newsweek reports commentators went on to claim users of fidget spinners could experience a form of "hypnosis." They added that playing with the toy "dulls" the mind and "takes you to a different place." A Rossiya 24 reporter pointed out that the package of a fidget spinner purchased in Moscow bore only English writing. Russia's consumer protection agency is now investigating the toys and encourages parents to supervise children using fidget spinners.