I’m a gamer, so I like to goals. I like special missions and secret objectives. So here’s special mission for this talk: I’m going to try to increase life span of every single person in this room seven and a half minutes. Literally, you will live seven and a half minutes longer you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.
Some of are looking a little bit skeptical. That’s okay, because check it out — have math to prove that it is possible. It won’t much sense now. I’ll explain it all later, just pay attention the number at the bottom: +7.68245837 minutes. That will be my gift you if I’m successful in my mission.
Now, you have a secret mission too. Your is to figure out how you want to spend your extra seven and a minutes. And I think you should do something unusual with them, because these are bonus minutes. You weren’t to have them anyway.
Now, because I’m a game designer, might be thinking to yourself, I know what she us to do with those minutes, she wants us spend them playing games. Now this is a totally assumption, given that I have made quite a habit of encouraging people to spend time playing games. For example, in my first TED Talk, I did that we should spend 21 billion hours a week, a planet, playing video games.
Now, 21 billion hours, it’s a lot of time. It’s so time, in fact, that the number one unsolicited comment that have heard from people all over the world since I gave that talk, is this: Jane, games great and all, but on your deathbed, are you really to wish you spent more time playing Angry Birds?
(Laughter)
This idea is so — that games are a waste of time that we will come to — that I hear it literally everywhere I go. For example, true story: Just a few ago, this cab driver, upon finding out that a friend and I were town for a game developers’ conference, turned around and said — I quote — “I hate games. Waste of life. getting to the end of your life and regretting all that time.”
Now, I want to take this seriously. I want games to be a force for good in the world. I don’t want gamers regret the time they spent playing, time that I them to spend. So I have been thinking about this question lot lately. When we’re on our deathbeds, will we regret time we spent playing games?
Now, this may surprise you, but it out there is actually some scientific research on this question. It’s true. workers, the people who take care of us at the end our lives, recently issued a report on the most frequently expressed regrets that people say when are literally on their deathbeds. And that’s what I want to with you today — the top five regrets of the dying.
Number one: wish I hadn’t worked so hard. Number two: I I had stayed in touch with my friends. Number three: I wish had let myself be happier. Number four: I wish I’d had the courage express my true self. And number five: I wish I’d lived a true to my dreams, instead of what others expected of me.
Now, far as I know, no one ever told one of the workers, “I wish I’d spent more time playing video games,” but when I these top five regrets of the dying, I can’t help but hear deep human cravings that games actually help us fulfill.
For example, I I hadn’t worked so hard. For many people, this means, I I’d spent more time with my family, with my kids when they were growing up. Well, we that playing games together has tremendous family benefits. A recent study from Young University School of Family Life reported that parents who more time playing video games with their kids have much real-life relationships with them.
“I wish I’d stayed in with my friends.” Hundreds of millions of people use social games FarmVille or Words With Friends to stay in daily contact with real-life and family. A recent study from the University of Michigan showed these games are incredibly powerful relationship-management tools. They help us stay connected people in our social network that we would otherwise distant from, if we weren’t playing games together.
“I wish I’d myself be happier.” Well, here I can’t help but of the groundbreaking clinical trials recently conducted at East Carolina University that showed that online games can outperform for treating clinical anxiety and depression. Just 30 minutes of online game play a day was enough to dramatic boosts in mood and long-term increases in happiness.
“I wish I’d the courage to express my true self.” Well, avatars are a way to express our true selves, our heroic, idealized version of who we might become. You can see in this alter ego portrait by Robbie Cooper of a gamer with his avatar. Stanford University has been doing research for five years now document how playing a game with an idealized avatar changes how we and act in real life, making us more courageous, more ambitious, more committed to our goals.
“I I’d led a life true to my dreams, and not what others of me.” Are games doing this yet? I’m not sure, I’ve left a Super Mario question mark. We’re going to come to this one.
But in the meantime, perhaps you’re wondering, who is this game designer to be to us about deathbed regrets? And it’s true, I’ve never worked in a hospice, I’ve never been my deathbed. But recently I did spend three months in bed, wanting die. Really wanting to die.
Now let me tell you that story. It two years ago, when I hit my head and got a concussion. The concussion didn’t heal properly, after 30 days, I was left with symptoms like headaches, nausea, vertigo, memory loss, mental fog. My doctor told me that in order heal my brain, I had to rest it. So I to avoid everything that triggered my symptoms. For me meant no reading, no writing, no video games, no work or email, no running, no alcohol, no caffeine. other words — and I think you see where this going — no reason to live.
(Laughter)
Of course it’s to be funny, but in all seriousness, suicidal ideation quite common with traumatic brain injuries. It happens to one in three, and it happened to me. brain started telling me, “Jane, you want to die.” It said, “You’re never going to better.” It said, “The pain will never end.”
And these voices so persistent and so persuasive that I started to legitimately fear for life, which is the time that I said to after 34 days — and I will never forget this moment — I said, “I either going to kill myself or I’m going to turn this into game.”
Now, why a game? I knew from researching the psychology of games for more a decade that when we play a game — and this in the scientific literature — we tackle tough challenges with more creativity, more determination, more optimism, we’re more likely to reach out to others for help. I to bring these gamer traits to my real-life challenge, so I created role-playing recovery game called Jane the Concussion Slayer.
Now became my new secret identity, and the first thing I did as a slayer was call twin sister — I have an identical twin sister named Kelly — and tell her, “I’m playing a to heal my brain, and I want you to play with me.” This was an way to ask for help.
She became my first in the game, my husband Kiyash joined next, and together we identified and battled the bad guys. this was anything that could trigger my symptoms and therefore slow down the process, things like bright lights and crowded spaces. We also and activated power-ups. This was anything I could do on my worst day to feel just a little bit good, just a little bit productive. Things like cuddling dog for 10 minutes, or getting out of bed and walking the block just once.
Now the game was that simple: Adopt a secret identity, recruit allies, battle the bad guys, activate the power-ups. But with a game so simple, within just a couple of starting to play, that fog of depression and anxiety went away. It vanished. It felt like a miracle. Now it wasn’t a miracle cure for the headaches or cognitive symptoms. That lasted for more than a year, and was the hardest year of my life by far. even when I still had the symptoms, even while was still in pain, I stopped suffering.
Now what happened next with game surprised me. I put up some blog posts and videos online, explaining to play. But not everybody has a concussion, obviously, not everyone wants to be “the slayer,” so I the game SuperBetter.
And soon, I started hearing from people all over world who were adopting their own secret identity, recruiting their own allies, they were getting “super better,” facing challenges like cancer chronic pain, depression and Crohn’s disease. Even people were it for terminal diagnoses like ALS. And I could from their messages and their videos that the game was helping them the same ways that it helped me. They talked about feeling and braver. They talked about feeling better understood by their and family. And they even talked about feeling happier, even though they were pain, even though they were tackling the toughest challenge of their lives.
Now at the time, I’m to myself, what is going on here? I mean, how could a game trivial intervene so powerfully in such serious, and in some cases life-and-death, circumstances? I mean, it hadn’t worked for me, there’s no way I would have believed it was possible. Well, turns out there’s some science here, too. Some people get stronger and happier after traumatic event. And that’s what was happening to us.
The game helping us experience what scientists call post-traumatic growth, which is not something usually hear about. We usually hear about post-traumatic stress disorder. But scientists now that a traumatic event doesn’t doom us to suffer indefinitely. Instead, we can use it as springboard to unleash our best qualities and lead happier lives.
Here are the top five things that people post-traumatic growth say: “My priorities have changed.” “I’m not afraid to do what me happy.” “I feel closer to my friends and family.” “I understand myself better. I know who I really now.” “I have a new sense of meaning and purpose in my life.” “I’m better able focus on my goals and dreams.”
Now, does this sound familiar? should, because the top five traits of post-traumatic growth are essentially the direct of the top five regrets of the dying. Now this interesting, right? It seems that somehow, a traumatic event can unlock our ability to lead a with fewer regrets.
But how does it work? How do you get from trauma to growth? Or yet, is there a way to get all the benefits post-traumatic growth without the trauma, without having to hit your head the first place? That would be good, right?
I wanted to understand phenomenon better, so I devoured the scientific literature, and here’s what I learned. There are four kinds strength, or resilience, that contribute to post-traumatic growth, and are scientifically validated activities that you can do every to build up these four kinds of resilience, and you don’t need trauma to do it.
I could tell you what these four types of strength are, I’d rather you experience them firsthand. I’d rather we start building them up together right now. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll play a quick together. This is where you earn the seven and a half minutes of bonus life I promised you earlier. All you have to do is successfully complete the first SuperBetter quests. And I feel like you can do it. have confidence in you.
So, everybody ready? This is your quest. Here we go. Pick one: Stand up and take steps, or make your hands into fists, raise them over your head high as you can for five seconds, go! All right, like the people doing both. You are overachievers. Very good.
(Laughter)
Well done, everyone. That is +1 physical resilience, which means that your body can withstand stress and heal itself faster. We know from the that the number one thing you can do to boost your resilience is to not sit still. That’s all it takes. Every single second you are not sitting still, you are actively improving the health of your heart, and lungs and brains.
Everybody ready for your next quest? I you to snap your fingers exactly 50 times, or count from 100 by seven, like this: 100, 93… Go!
(Snapping)
Don’t give up.
(Snapping)
Don’t let people counting down from 100 interfere with your counting 50.
(Snapping)
(Laughter)
Nice. Wow. That’s the first time I’ve ever that. Bonus physical resilience. Well done, everyone. Now that’s +1 mental resilience, which means you have more mental focus, discipline, determination and willpower. We know from the scientific research willpower actually works like a muscle. It gets stronger the more you exercise it. tackling a tiny challenge without giving up, even one absurd as snapping your fingers exactly 50 times or counting backwards 100 by seven is actually a scientifically validated way to boost your willpower.
So good job. number three. Pick one: Because of the room, fate’s determined this for you, but here are the two options. you’re inside, find a window and look out of it. you’re outside, find a window and look in. Or do quick YouTube or Google image search for “baby [your animal.]”
Do it on your phones, or just shout out some baby animals, and I’ll them on the screen. So, what do we want see? Sloth, giraffe, elephant, snake. Okay, let’s see what got. Baby dolphin and baby llamas. Everybody look. Got that? Okay, more. Baby elephant.
(Audience) Oh!
We’re clapping for that? That’s amazing.
(Laughter)
All right, we’re just feeling there is plus-one emotional resilience, which means have the ability to provoke powerful, positive emotions like or love, which we feel looking at baby animals, you need them most.
Here’s a secret from the scientific for you. If you can manage to experience three emotions for every one negative emotion over the course an hour, a day, a week, you dramatically improve your health and ability to successfully tackle any problem you’re facing. And this is called the three-to-one positive ratio. It’s my favorite SuperBetter trick, so keep it up.
All right, one, last quest: Shake someone’s hand for six seconds, send someone a quick thank you by text, email, Facebook Twitter. Go!
(Chatting)
Looking good, looking good. Nice, nice. Keep it up. love it! All right, everybody, that is +1 social resilience, which means you actually get more strength your friends, your neighbors, your family, your community. Now, a great way to boost resilience is gratitude. Touch is even better.
Here’s one more secret for you: Shaking someone’s for six seconds dramatically raises the level of oxytocin in bloodstream, now that’s the trust hormone. That means that of you who just shook hands are biochemically primed to like and want to help each other. will linger during the break, so take advantage of the opportunities.
(Laughter)
Well, you have successfully completed your four quests, let’s see I’ve successfully completed my mission to give you seven and a half minutes of life. Now I get to share one more little bit of with you. It turns out that people who regularly boost these four types resilience — physical, mental, emotional and social — live 10 years than everyone else. So this is true. If you are regularly achieving the three-to-one positive emotion ratio, if are never sitting still for more than an hour at a time, if you are reaching out one person you care about every single day, if are tackling tiny goals to boost your willpower, you will live 10 years longer than everyone else, here’s where that math I showed you earlier comes in.
So, the average life expectancy in U.S. and the U.K. is 78.1 years, but we know more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies that you can add 10 of life by boosting your four types of resilience. So every year that you are boosting your four types of resilience, you’re actually earning .128 more years of or 46 more days of life, or 67,298 more minutes of life, which means every single day, you earning 184 minutes of life, or every single hour that you are boosting your four of resilience, like we just did together, you are 7.68245837 more minutes of life.
Congratulations, those seven and a minutes are all yours. You totally earned them.
Yeah!
(Applause)
Awesome. Wait, wait, wait. You still have your special mission, your mission. How are you going to spend these minutes of bonus life?
Well, here’s my suggestion. These and a half bonus minutes are kind of like genie’s wishes. You can use your first to wish for a million more wishes. Pretty clever, right? So, if you spend these seven and a half today doing something that makes you happy, or that gets physically active, or puts you in touch with someone care about, or even just tackling a tiny challenge, you’re going to boost your resilience, you’re going to earn more minutes.
And the good is, you can keep going like that. Every hour of the day, every day of your life, all way to your deathbed, which will now be 10 years later it would have otherwise. And when you get there, more than likely, will not have any of those top five regrets, because will have built up the strength and resilience to lead a life truer your dreams. And with 10 extra years, you might even have enough to play a few more games.
Thank you.
(Applause)