"disintermediation" I believe this is how an IYI says "cut out the middle man".
What does "IYI" mean?
The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
11–20 of 90 posts
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#12"disintermediation" I believe this is how an IYI says "cut out the middle man".
It may be. It might also be the term that economists use when they talk to each other, to avoid having to go to "Cut Out the Middle Man Conference 2017." Just because someone isn't using a colloquialism doesn't mean they're pretending to be an intellectual.
Is there really a conference about transitioning to direct sales?
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#13It's hard to put my finger on what exactly unsettled me about the fidget spinner craze, but it seems related to this article. All the hype seemed ad hoc. For Beanie Babies, in retrospect, it felt like a coordinated center (the manufacturer/importer and its marketing arm) surrounded by a bunch of people jumping on the bandwagon. Fidget spinners just felt like every click-baiting view-monger jumping in with their hot take. There seemed to be, from the outside, no central brand or centralized messaging. The closest thing to the latter seemed to be the urban legend that these things were good for ADHD, somehow.
Even Baudrillard's hyper-reality seemed to be orchestrated from a center; his assertion that the Europe experience at Disney World was "more real" than Europe itself at least required Disney to have built it.
Spinners just arose out of the background radiation, with no apparent proximal cause.
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#14Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does "IYI" mean?
Google tells me "Intellectual Yet Idiot." The #iamverysmart police seem to need new cover, IMO.
Thanks! For some reason that didn't come up, all I got was an urban dictionary reference that didn't seem in context.
Wonder of this article is the source? https://medium.com/incerto/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e...
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#16It's rise in India is so fast and deep that it's been sold in local trains for 40-50 Indian rupees (~70 cents). Almost everyone from kids to adults in office and park started spinning it for no reason because they saw someone else spinning and it was just cool. PS: I bought two while in the local train. For me and my wife. A day before that a kid in my flat was showing off his skills and a week after that my 40ish ma…
> 40-50 Indian rupees (~70 cents)
Ha! They sold for CAD$15 around here...
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#17I'm confused... she sold tens of thousands of dollars of fidget spinners, getting on that craze immediately that she heard about it (she had product within 5 days) and knowing that it was a fad that was destined to die out (hardly the first... I remember Tamagotchi's pretty well, and the apparently New Zealand-only Chatter Ring).
I don't think the comparison to TripAdvisor and travel agents is particularly strong, and I think you'd be hard pushed to make the case that thousands of travel agents who'd maybe heard something about the place you wanted to go is better than thousands of reviews and photos from people who've actually been there. TipAdvisor has lots of problems, to be sure, but it's still better than travel agents.
Unrelated to the above, I'm actually excited for the craze to die out. I think I might be one of the people fidget spinners were originally made for. I don't have any problems focusing, but I habitually spin things in my fingers - my iPhone, my wallet (I've worn marks into the leather), pens... It's usually completely unconscious. So I'll be looking forward to trying a fidget spinner once the fad has gone away.
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#18It's rise in India is so fast and deep that it's been sold in local trains for 40-50 Indian rupees (~70 cents). Almost everyone from kids to adults in office and park started spinning it for no reason because they saw someone else spinning and it was just cool. PS: I bought two while in the local train. For me and my wife. A day before that a kid in my flat was showing off his skills and a week after that my 40ish ma…
This reminds me of the great (I think) star trek TNG episode The Game (I had to look up the name, then felt silly). I imagine you and your wife picking them up just to be able to make it home without being accosted.
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#19> ‘‘Now, in less than half a year, spinners are done,’’ Osborne says. ‘‘I’m moving on to squishies’’ — squishable toys that are also (questionably) marketed as attention aids. ‘‘I think they’ll last at least a few months.’’
As a side note, squishies have been around for a while too, at least since last year. My son is a big fan of them. I'm pretty sure he learned about them from YouTube kids, which sometimes seems like trove of toy commercials. Unlike what Ms. Osborne seems to think, I don't think fads in the future will be any shorter, I think they'll just be created in different ways.
Re: The Rise of the Fidget Spinner and the Fall of the Well-Managed Fad
#20Same thing happens with twitter lynch mobs. Another day, another victim.