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