Meet Cam Adair - The Literal Game Changer

So tell me more about game quitters, how they start.

So it's the largest support community for video game addiction.

Okay.

Me two times sixth gear six gear master til I get there Philadelphia state of mind until I get my head clear DMV stand up Baltimore and what the politics of everything suck so just man don't know what to stand for at least I'm still upright even those on the down not me, I'm me Balls in my hand when I'm spitting Cause my potency's stronger than any man and I'm never laying down Feet are not in the sand Only vacations we get are at the bottom of the glasses Like a time machine A weekend in Japan line by line my rhymes revealing what's inside of me Nothing to be proud of but at least I get it out of me. How did he put the doctor out of a lobotomy? Whatever he's got should probably be put inside a bottle.

Please.

FDA approval then if it's sound.

20,000 members a month in 79 countries around the world.

Wow. So is that like a Facebook community?

Not Facebook. It's a. We have a YouTube channel, we have a free community forum, and we also have an online program, a video course that people can go through to get the help that they're looking for.

Okay.

So it's really actually trying to just, you know, if someone has a video game addiction, be able to serve them in a way that really helps them actually transform their life.

How does this start? I mean, it's like people. So in a layman's language, people who play a lot of video games and they want to. Are they shying away from the real world and trying to get into this world?

Yeah. So, you know, in my case, I was bullied a lot growing up. And when I was being bullied, I didn't really feel very safe at school. I didn't feel very safe on my hockey teams. And so I could escape into games and online. Not only was it fully immersive, where I could do it for hours and hours and hours, but it was also something that I had a lot of control over. So if someone was bothering me online, I could just block them. I could play a different game, I could get away. Whereas at school, I had no sense of control in that way. And gaming just became outlet for kind of escaping from. From life. That wasn't very much fun. The conversation around video game addiction has shifted to be actually about the addiction instead of what it was traditionally, which was violence in video games, that really culminated in the school shootings.

Right.

Imagine in the 90s, of all the school shootings that were happening, people began to say, video games make people violent. They make them go and shoot up schools. Which research just doesn't support.

Right.

But the dominating narrative in the media has been video games make you violent. And that's an important conversation to have. But in my community, it doesn't help my community at all.

Sure.

Because my community doesn't actually resonate with that. And so being able to actually have a conversation around the struggles that they're having that are genuine to them and keep it focused on that, I think is a really amazing thing. And I'm really happy to see that beginning to happen in the media.

That's quite a spread. So then speaking at schools leads you to making more awareness about this. But eventually, you know, what I've always feel is that for any venture to last long and to make a greater impact, money is such an integral part of it. So where does that come from? Sponsorships or sponsorships?

Schools.

So do you think video game companies would sponsor this?

Yeah, they absolutely have.

Okay.

Yeah. No different than when Budweiser started to support.

I understand. Okay, that makes sense.

Responsible drinking. Right. And so, I mean, that's a big next step for us now is maybe not gaming companies, but in the very least, sponsors who care about this issue, who are able to donate and give us some funds and grants to be able to go and bring this message out there.

Right.

But I also want there to be a very sustainable infrastructure below that, where regardless of whether we have donors or not, it's still a sustainable venture and we're able to have the impact that we want. The reason why people come to us saying, hey, I want help is because we're on YouTube, we're on Reddit.

Right.

In these places where they can find us.

Right, right.

So marketing content has been huge for us. When people search how to quit playing video games, they find us. That makes a big difference because that person's actually searching for help.

Right, right.

So I believe amplifying our message, getting out there more. Absolutely. We have the right opportunity. And it's just being patient, I think, is big for us right now. Continuing to do the work, continuing to work hard, continuing the infrastructure set up so that we can take on these different people. We're just being patient, too.

Got it.

Some people are kind of talking about, you know, what do you guys do to prevent burnout? How do you know if you're pushing yourself too hard? What do you do if you feel burnout coming. Because one of the challenges that they have is that when they begin to develop new habits, they take on a lot, and that can be difficult, and.

You start to maybe burn out during the detox.

Okay, maybe they've started to try different projects or hobbies, or they have new goals, but sustaining them long term can be difficult. And that doesn't just apply to them.

That applies to everyone.

Right. But, you know, they're having a discussion about that. And what's amazing is the community comes in here and shares tons of different ideas, you know, for people to be able to move forward.

And so how do you reach out to schools through your face? Your TED talk is obviously a great achievement. So what else do you do to reach out?

We're going to develop an assessment tool where school can take a sample of their students and have them do a survey. And based on those results, find out if gaming is a problem at school. Because I speak to superintendents and they tell me, gaming's not a problem for my students. And I say, well, research shows that 13% of your students have a gaming addiction. And the largest demographic for me in our community is college students because they're able to get away with it in high school. They get to college now they start to fail out of college. And unemployment rates for men in their 20s who have not graduated college are rising sharper than any other group. So this is a problem that we need to actually be talking about in schools, but schools aren't aware that it's a problem. So we're going to develop a tool where schools can just evaluate their students and be able to find for themselves if it is or is not a problem, know they're going to find a problem.

Sure.

And now they're motivated to bring us in.

Right. So families. So obviously your mission is also going to be to make sure that you reach out to more families so they're aware of what's happening and then use technology responsibly. It's not only video games, you're saying, Right?

It's video games. It's the Internet, it's porn, it's social media.

Right.

I believe video games is just a topic. We all have that vice, whether it's drugs or alcohol, anything like that. You know, people struggle with unhealthy have. It's a very natural part of our process. But getting really aware of what is happening and why and being able to leverage those insights into channeling our talents in this direction. Instead of this direction, Gamers play for 16 hours straight. They're Incredibly focused. They're not lazy. If they applied that to business or applied that to learning to travel or surfing or any other activity that would make a significant impact. It's just they're channeling it into just mindlessly gaming for hours and hours or mindlessly browsing the Internet and not actually being productive.

Alright, buddy. Really appreciate this. Not at all. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot. Hi. It's a beautiful day in San Diego, sunny California. And meeting the last few days was meeting a lot of entrepreneurs. The best thing that I realized, and it was a realization for me. Many of us entrepreneurs around the world are looking at success monetarily, which is important for survival and everything else. But it was crazy to meet so many entrepreneurs for whom success and the milestones for success was community building, engagement with their people, serving, giving back and all of those things. And they said the money automatically follows. Now, for a large extent, I think that is so true. We are all getting so impatient with our startups and our venture ideas to be able to get either investment funding straight off the bat or to be able to sell our, you know, sell our business so very fast. And here I'm meeting entrepreneurs who are saying, this is my baby, I'm growing it up, I'm nurturing it, I'm answering each and every YouTube comment, I'm answering every Facebook comment, I'm listening to everybody, I'm reaching out to them, I'm calling them, I'm helping them with their journey. And what are you getting in return? I'm building a community. I'm building sub leaders. You have to be vulnerable to be able to build sub leaders. You have to be strong to be able to say, I don't need all the attention, I don't need all the money, I don't need all the recognition. This group doesn't have to be mine, this forum doesn't have to be mine. This company doesn't have to be mine. It belongs to the people for whom I started it. This is a message we've been reading in books and forums and, you know, podcasts and speeches and TED talks all over the world. But to see 28 year old entrepreneurs anywhere from 19 to 35, at that age, people have the wisdom or the truth or the honesty within themselves to say that I am a social entrepreneur and I am doing it for others and what comes out of it for me, me will be a byproduct. But they want to grow the community through the people, through the leaders. That is just impactful, that is just so powerful and that I think works very well in businesses that have a for profit agenda as well. Why can we not have that mindset shift to say everything happens when we take care of our people. Everything happens when we take and it's not just an HR exercise. Everything happens when we take care of our people and I take care and take care of our clients. We means that we have the time to listen. I always say that if you're walking into the office, the first thing you want to do is put your bag down and go and meet everybody. So I have 100 people in my office. So what? Go and meet everyone. It takes 20 minutes. Those are the people who are driving the business. You don't have time for them. Then why, why are you. How, how come you busy? Number one. Number two, remember your clients, remember their birthdays, remember their anniversaries. And the most important thing is when you say how are you to someone, mean it and take the time to listen to the answer. Many a times people just want to be heard. Clients leave companies when they feel neglected or not heard. People leave companies when they feel neglected or not heard. The only way to build an entrepreneurship, the only way to build a company, the only way to be successful is to get all your stakeholders together. And as a leader, your job is to ensure everybody is being hurt, everybody feels relevant, everybody feels cared for. And so that was the message for the day. That was my learning for the day. Wanted to share it with you through this short video. I hope you like it. Take care.