Kids’ toys have been viral for almost a decade. The earliest many remember could be the fidget spinner that became very popular in 2017 with people bringing them to school and posting about them. Although these viral toys lose popularity quickly, new ones come up frequently. Many of these toys get hate and are considered wasteful consumerism by people in the comments because, a lot of the time, influencers will buy many, taking away the chances of an actual child being able to get one. This also causes the prices to rise on these toys since the demand is so high, and it is not just toys. For example, shows like K-Pop Demon Hunters and other things can become viral on the internet and get hate because they were originally meant for children. An extremely viral kids’ toy right now are surprise dumplings, which are dumpling squishies that popular influencers (mainly girls) are getting entire boxes of when they are in stock—very rare—in hopes of getting the mystery, sparkly dumpling. This limits the chance of actual children getting the chance to open one since they are all gone by the time the kids can try and buy them. Let us see what some kids and teenagers have to say about this.

Katy Bryant, a 12 year old student at Drakes Creek Middle school, who owns a phone and regularly scrolls on social media apps like TikTok, says that she does support kids’ toys going viral so that other people can play with them. She states that they become more commercialized and found in more stores once they become viral. On the other hand, she directly refutes this claim by saying it is considered consumerism when people are buying up all of the viral toys in the store because “they are grown adults and they need to get a life.” After saying this, she switches her opinion back to the original saying that she guesses kids’ toys should be for everyone because “other people want to have a good time too,” laughing about this response for a while. Bryant says that she has bought many viral kids’ toys and has probably regretted at least one of them, depending on what it is. But, she has gotten so many that she does not remember which ones she regrets or considers a waste of money. She has bought things like Labubus (which turned out to be fake), Squishmallows, and NeeDohs. Based on my observations, she supports kids’ toys becoming viral, but thinks there is a limit to how many a person should get and how old you can be before it just becomes weird and childish.

Arzu Bakhadir, a 15 year old freshman at Greenwood Highschool, says that she also supports kids’ toys becoming viral, but she sees why they get hate. Bakhadir says that kids’ toys becoming viral “brings out nostalgia from when we were younger.” She adds that “kids have other toys,” so it should not matter to kids that much. She says that when she was a kid, she played with things like Shopkins and Barbies, so she does not see younger kids wanting them or being affected by them being viral as much. Bakhadir also says that the toys should not just be for kids (although that is what they were originally made for) and when everyone is going crazy for a kids’ toy on the internet, the internet seems to “bond.” Bakhadir states that Labubus are ugly when explaining why some of these viral toys get hate, which seems to be a popular opinion for some people on the internet. 

People on the internet hate on kids toys like Labubus not just because they are for kids, but also sometimes because they do not like the way they look or something else about them. For example, a good amount of the internet does not like Labubus because they are “too expensive” for a kids toy and people comment that influencers are stupid to be buying something that high in price just because they are viral. So, what about you? Are you on the supporting kids’ toys side, or do you think they are just over priced, dumb toys that should be forgotten about and left for the kids?

Arzu Bakhadir taken by Arzu Bakhadir