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