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