Local Company Combats Childhood Obesity with Online Gaming

As summer is upon us, the droning idle gamer wasting away endless sunny afternoons is a scene too familiar in an American household.  Frustrated parents have relentlessly tried to change the monotonous lifestyle of the gamer to avoid the loss of valuable youthful experiences plus the loss of health and exercise.

The team at Zamzee is seeking to change that by increasing the health of young people while maintaining a fun, interactive lifestyle. The online rewards program measures physical activity, which translates to points and prizes.

“It’s a new social enterprise,” said CEO Jonathan Attwood. “Basically we found that kids in America are not moving around as much as they should be.”

Zamzee comes at a time when the nation is facing an epidemic of childhood obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 percent of adolescents under the age of 18 are considered obese. The CDCP cites media and television as a contributor to growing obesity rates, but Zamzee seeks to change the reasons why teens get online. However, Attwood said the company doesn’t speak to kids about obesity; rather they simply present a healthy way to have fun.

“We are charged with creating a fun way of getting young people moving around and active,” Attwood said.

A Zamzee meter clips on to clothing or can be kept in a pocket. The small device tracks every movement a teen makes including walking, playing and dancing. By connecting the Zamzee meter to a computer, the participant records points. The more teens moves, the more points they generate which they can use for prizes such as avatar accessories, gift cards, clothing and sports gear.

Teenagers, Attwood said, designed the original concept so that the product would be most beneficial. Because teens don’t generally dedicate time to the gym, the company was challenged to find a fun way to bring exercise.

“Telling them you have to move more doesn’t really cut it with them,” Attwood said.

The company will be launching the final product of Zamzee later this fall but is currently testing the product with young people, including teens in Redwood City.

“We’re creating a local community base,” Attwood said.

Zamzee is attempting to utilize local offers, for example, a movie ticket from Redwood City’s Cinemark. This gives teens more incentive to move and maintains a sense of community.

In a test-run in which teens wore a Zamzee meter for approximately a month, studies found an increase of young people's movement by 30 percent.

“That’s the equivalent to someone running an extra marathon every month,” Attwood said.

Kids can track their movement online to see if they have moved more or less than previous days, this often can lead to whole families vying for the most points, Attwood said.

“The whole house starts competing with each other and find excuses to move around more,” he said. “They’ve just been absolutely amazed. Parents say, ‘my kids haven’t used a Play Station all week.’”

Zamzee was developed by HopeLab, an organization committed to combating childhood diseases through innovative technology, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

HopeLab’s most famous product, entitled Re-Mission, is a video game developed specifically for young people with cancer. The game, which increased knowledge of cancer to those who played, was hugely successful and is now distributed in 81 countries.

“We’re really just working out all the kinks,” Richard Tate of HopeLab said of Zamzee. “We’re learning a lot.”

Tate said that though the product isn’t available just yet, the feedback the organization has received about Zamzee promises an exciting final product.

“We’re hearing a lot of enthusiasm not only from participants but also their parents,” he said. “We’re really taking this feedback and integrating it.”

Even in their early stages, Zamzee has gained positive recognition. Not only has Zamzee received the San Mateo County Economic Development Association’s , but a teen participant presented the new product to President Obama.

But fame means nothing to the team at Zamzee without active change toward the greater good.

“Its first goal in life is the social good,” Atwood said. “Yes, we can make money, but we want to do business that can do good in the world.”