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