I’m gamer, so I like to have goals. I like special missions and secret objectives. So here’s my mission for this talk: I’m going to try to increase the span of every single person in this room by seven a half minutes. Literally, you will live seven and a half minutes longer you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.
Some you are looking a little bit skeptical. That’s okay, check it out — I have math to prove that it is possible. It won’t make sense now. I’ll explain it all later, just pay 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 is 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 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 to spend playing games. Now this is a totally reasonable assumption, given that have made quite 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, 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 I have heard from people all over the world 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 will come to regret — that I hear it everywhere I go. For example, true story: Just a weeks ago, this cab driver, upon finding out that a friend and I in town for a game developers’ conference, turned around and said — and I quote — “I games. Waste of life. Imagine getting to the end your life and regretting all that time.”
Now, I to take this problem seriously. I want games to a force for good in the world. I don’t want gamers to regret the time they playing, time that I encouraged them to spend. So I been thinking about this question a lot lately. When we’re on our deathbeds, will we regret time we spent playing games?
Now, this may surprise you, it turns out there is actually some scientific research on question. It’s true. Hospice workers, the people who take care of us at the end of our lives, issued a report on the most frequently expressed regrets people say when they are literally on their deathbeds. that’s what I want to share with you today — the top five of the dying.
Number one: I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. two: I wish I had stayed in touch with friends. Number three: I wish I had let myself be happier. Number four: wish I’d had the courage to express my true self. And number five: wish I’d lived a life true to my dreams, instead of what others expected of me.
Now, as as I 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 deep human cravings that games actually help us fulfill.
For example, I I hadn’t worked so hard. For many people, this means, I wish I’d more time with my family, with my kids when they were growing up. Well, know that playing games together has tremendous family benefits. A recent study from Young University School of Family Life reported that parents who spend more time video games with their kids have much stronger real-life relationships them.
“I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends.” Hundreds of millions people use social games like FarmVille or Words With Friends to stay in daily contact with real-life friends family. A recent study from the University of Michigan that these games are incredibly powerful relationship-management tools. They us stay connected with people in our social network we would otherwise grow distant from, if we weren’t playing games together.
“I I’d let myself be happier.” Well, here I can’t help think of the groundbreaking clinical trials recently conducted at Carolina University that showed that online games can outperform pharmaceuticals for clinical anxiety and depression. Just 30 minutes of online game play a was enough to create dramatic boosts in mood and long-term 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 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 game with an avatar changes how we think and act in real life, making more courageous, more ambitious, more committed to our goals.
“I wish I’d led life true to my dreams, and not what others expected me.” Are games doing this yet? I’m not sure, I’ve left a Super Mario question mark. We’re going come back to this one.
But in the meantime, you’re wondering, who is this game designer to be talking to about deathbed regrets? And it’s true, I’ve never worked a hospice, I’ve never been on my deathbed. But recently I did spend three in bed, wanting to die. Really wanting to die.
Now let me tell you story. It started two years ago, when I hit my head and a concussion. The concussion didn’t heal properly, and after 30 days, was left with symptoms like nonstop headaches, nausea, vertigo, loss, mental fog. My doctor told me that in 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, alcohol, no caffeine. In other words — and I think 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 with traumatic brain injuries. It happens to one in three, and happened to me. My brain started telling me, “Jane, want to die.” It said, “You’re never going to better.” It said, “The pain will never end.”
And voices became so persistent and so persuasive that I to legitimately fear for my life, which is the time I said to myself after 34 days — and I will never forget this — I said, “I am either going to kill myself or I’m going to turn this into game.”
Now, why a game? I knew from researching psychology of games for more than a decade that we play a game — and this is in scientific 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 recovery game called Jane Concussion Slayer.
Now this became my new secret identity, the first thing I did as a slayer was call my twin — 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 way to ask for help.
She became my first ally in the game, my husband joined next, and together we identified and battled the bad guys. Now this was anything that trigger my symptoms and therefore slow down the healing process, things like bright lights crowded spaces. We also collected and activated power-ups. This was anything I could on even my worst day to feel just a little bit good, a little bit productive. Things like cuddling my dog for 10 minutes, or getting out bed and 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. But even with a so simple, within just a couple days of starting play, that fog of depression and anxiety went away. It just vanished. felt like a miracle. Now it wasn’t a miracle cure for the headaches or the cognitive symptoms. lasted for more than a year, and it was the hardest year of my by far. But even when I still had the symptoms, even while was still in pain, I stopped suffering.
Now what happened next with the game surprised me. I put some blog posts and videos online, explaining how to play. 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 over the world who were adopting their own secret identity, their own allies, and they were getting “super better,” facing challenges like cancer and pain, depression and Crohn’s disease. Even people were playing for terminal diagnoses like ALS. And I could tell from their messages and their videos that the game helping them in the same ways that it helped me. They talked about feeling stronger and braver. They talked 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 their lives.
Now at the time, I’m thinking myself, what is going on here? I mean, how could a game so trivial intervene powerfully in such serious, and in some cases life-and-death, circumstances? I mean, if it hadn’t worked me, there’s no way I would have believed it was possible. Well, it 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 game was helping experience what scientists call post-traumatic growth, which is not something we usually hear about. usually hear about post-traumatic stress 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 the top five things that people with post-traumatic growth say: “My priorities have changed.” “I’m afraid to do what makes me happy.” “I feel closer my friends and family.” “I understand myself better. I know who I really am now.” “I a new sense of meaning and purpose in my life.” “I’m better to focus on my goals and dreams.”
Now, does sound familiar? It should, because the top five traits of post-traumatic growth are essentially direct opposite of the top five regrets of the dying. this is interesting, right? It seems that somehow, a event can unlock our ability to lead a life with fewer regrets.
But how does it work? do you get from trauma to growth? Or better yet, is a way to get all the benefits of post-traumatic growth without trauma, without having to hit your head in the first place? would be good, right?
I wanted to understand the phenomenon better, I devoured the scientific literature, and here’s what I learned. There are four kinds of strength, or resilience, that to post-traumatic growth, and there are scientifically validated activities that you can do every day to build up four kinds of resilience, and you don’t need a trauma to do it.
I could tell you what four types of strength are, but I’d rather you experience them firsthand. I’d rather all start building them up together right now. Here’s we’re going to do. We’ll play a quick game together. is where you earn the seven and a half minutes bonus life that I promised you earlier. All you have to do is successfully complete first four SuperBetter quests. And I feel like you can do it. have confidence in you.
So, everybody ready? This is your first quest. we 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! All right, I like the doing both. You are overachievers. Very good.
(Laughter)
Well done, everyone. That worth +1 physical resilience, which means that your body withstand more stress and heal itself faster. We know from the that the number one thing you can do to boost your physical resilience is to not still. That’s all it takes. Every single second that are not sitting still, you are actively improving the health of heart, and your lungs and brains.
Everybody ready for your next quest? want you to snap your fingers exactly 50 times, 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 your counting to 50.
(Snapping)
(Laughter)
Nice. Wow. That’s the first I’ve ever seen that. Bonus physical resilience. Well done, everyone. that’s worth +1 mental resilience, which means you have mental focus, more discipline, determination and willpower. We know from the research that willpower actually works like a muscle. It gets stronger more you exercise it. So tackling a tiny challenge without giving up, even one as absurd snapping your fingers exactly 50 times or counting backwards from 100 by seven is actually scientifically validated way to boost your willpower.
So good job. number three. Pick one: Because of the room, fate’s really determined for you, but here are the two options. If 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 animals, and I’ll put them on the screen. So, what do we to see? Sloth, giraffe, elephant, snake. Okay, let’s see we got. Baby dolphin and baby llamas. Everybody look. that? Okay, one more. Baby elephant.
(Audience) Oh!
We’re for that? That’s amazing.
(Laughter)
All right, what we’re just feeling there is plus-one resilience, which means you have the ability to provoke powerful, emotions like curiosity or love, which we feel looking at animals, when you need them most.
Here’s a secret from scientific literature for you. If you can manage to experience three positive emotions for every one emotion over the course of an hour, a day, a week, you dramatically improve health and your ability to successfully tackle any problem you’re facing. this is called the three-to-one positive emotion ratio. It’s favorite SuperBetter trick, so keep it up.
All right, pick one, 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 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 for you: Shaking someone’s hand for six seconds dramatically the level of oxytocin in your bloodstream, now that’s trust hormone. That means that all of you who just shook are biochemically primed to like and want to help each other. This will linger during break, so take advantage of the networking opportunities.
(Laughter)
Well, you have successfully completed your four quests, let’s see I’ve successfully completed my mission to give you seven and half minutes of bonus life. Now I get to share one more bit 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 true. If you are regularly achieving the three-to-one positive emotion ratio, if you are never sitting for more than an hour at a time, if you are reaching out one person you care about every single day, if you are tiny goals to boost your willpower, you will live 10 longer than everyone else, and here’s where that math I you earlier comes in.
So, the average life expectancy in the U.S. and the U.K. 78.1 years, but we know from more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies that you can add 10 of life by boosting your four types of resilience. every single year that you are boosting your four types of resilience, you’re actually earning .128 more of life or 46 more days of life, or 67,298 more minutes life, which means every single day, you are earning 184 minutes life, or every single hour that you are boosting four types of resilience, like we just did together, are earning 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 your special mission, your secret mission. How are you to spend these minutes of bonus life?
Well, here’s suggestion. These seven and a half bonus minutes are kind of like genie’s wishes. You can your first wish to wish for a million more wishes. clever, right? So, if you spend these seven and a half minutes today doing that makes you happy, or that gets you physically active, or puts you in touch someone you care about, or even just tackling a challenge, you’re going to boost your resilience, so you’re going to more minutes.
And the good news is, you can keep going like that. Every of the day, every day of your life, all the way to your deathbed, which will now 10 years later than it would have otherwise. And when you there, more than likely, you will not have any of those top five regrets, because will have built up the strength and resilience to lead a truer to your dreams. And with 10 extra years, you might have enough time to play a few more games.
Thank you.
(Applause)