I’m gamer, so I like to have goals. I like missions and secret objectives. So here’s my special mission this talk: I’m going to try to increase the span of every single person in this room by and a half minutes. Literally, you will live seven a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because watched this talk.
Some of you are looking a 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 explain all later, just pay attention to the number at the bottom: +7.68245837 minutes. That be my gift to you if I’m successful in my mission.
Now, you have secret mission too. Your mission is to figure out how want to spend your extra seven and a half 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, 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 habit encouraging people to spend more time playing games. For example, my first TED Talk, I did propose that we should spend 21 hours a week, as 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 since I gave that talk, this: Jane, games are great and all, but on your deathbed, are really going to wish you 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 literally everywhere go. For example, true story: Just a few weeks ago, this cab driver, upon finding out 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 regretting that time.”
Now, I want to take this problem seriously. I want games to a force for good in the world. I don’t gamers to regret the time they spent playing, time that I encouraged to spend. So I have been thinking about this a lot lately. When we’re on our deathbeds, will we regret the time we spent playing games?
Now, may surprise you, but it turns out there is actually some research on this question. It’s true. Hospice workers, the people who take of us at the end of our lives, recently issued a report on the most expressed regrets that people say when they are literally on their deathbeds. And that’s what I want share with you today — the top five regrets of dying.
Number one: I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. Number two: wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. Number three: I wish I had let be happier. Number four: I wish I’d had the courage to express my true self. number five: I wish I’d lived a life true to my dreams, instead of what others expected me.
Now, as far as I know, no one told one of the hospice workers, “I wish I’d spent time playing video games,” but when I hear these 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 time my family, with my kids when they were growing up. Well, we know that playing games together has family benefits. A recent study from Brigham Young University School Family Life reported that parents who spend more time playing 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 study from the University of Michigan showed that these games are powerful 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 can’t help but think of the groundbreaking clinical trials recently conducted at Carolina University that showed that online games can outperform pharmaceuticals for treating clinical and depression. Just 30 minutes of online game play a day was enough to create dramatic in mood and long-term increases in happiness.
“I wish I’d the courage to express my true self.” Well, avatars a way to express our true selves, our most heroic, idealized version 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 for five years now to document how playing a game with an avatar changes how we think and act in real life, making us more courageous, ambitious, more committed to our goals.
“I wish I’d led life true to my dreams, and not what others of me.” Are games doing this yet? I’m not 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 designer to be talking to us about deathbed regrets? it’s true, I’ve never worked in a hospice, I’ve never been on 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 and got 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 order heal my brain, I had to rest it. So I had to avoid that triggered my symptoms. For me that meant no reading, no writing, no video games, no work email, no running, no alcohol, no caffeine. In other words — and I think see where this is going — no reason to live.
(Laughter)
Of course it’s meant to funny, but in all seriousness, suicidal ideation is quite common with traumatic brain injuries. It happens to one three, and it happened to me. My brain started me, “Jane, you want to die.” It said, “You’re never to get better.” It said, “The pain will never end.”
And these voices became so persistent so persuasive that I started to legitimately fear for my life, which is time that I said to myself after 34 days — and I will never forget this — I said, “I am either going to kill myself I’m going to turn this into a game.”
Now, why a game? I knew researching the psychology of games for more than a decade when we play a game — and this is in the scientific literature — we tackle challenges with more creativity, more determination, more optimism, and we’re likely to reach out to others for help. I wanted to these gamer 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, and first thing I did as a slayer was call my sister — I have an identical twin sister named — and tell her, “I’m playing a game to heal brain, and I want you to play with me.” was an easier way to ask for help.
She became my first ally in game, my husband Kiyash joined next, and together we identified and battled the guys. Now this was anything that could trigger my symptoms and therefore slow down the healing process, like bright lights and crowded spaces. We also collected activated power-ups. This was anything I could do on even worst day to feel just a little bit good, a 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 simple: Adopt a 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, fog of depression and anxiety went away. It just vanished. It felt like a miracle. Now wasn’t a miracle cure for the headaches or the symptoms. That lasted for more than a year, and it the hardest year of my life by far. But even I still had the symptoms, even while I was still in pain, stopped suffering.
Now what happened next with the game surprised me. I put up some blog posts videos online, explaining how to play. But not everybody 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, recruiting their own allies, and were getting “super better,” facing challenges like cancer and chronic pain, depression and Crohn’s disease. Even were playing it for terminal diagnoses like ALS. And I tell from their messages and their videos that the game was helping them in same ways that it helped me. They talked about feeling and braver. They talked about feeling better understood by their friends and family. they 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 so powerfully in such serious, and in some cases life-and-death, circumstances? I mean, if hadn’t worked for me, there’s no way I would believed it was possible. Well, it turns out there’s science here, too. Some people get stronger and happier after traumatic event. And that’s what was happening to us.
The game helping us experience what scientists call post-traumatic growth, which not something we usually hear about. We usually hear post-traumatic stress disorder. But scientists now know that a traumatic event doesn’t doom us to suffer indefinitely. Instead, can use it as a springboard to unleash our best and lead happier lives.
Here are the top five that people with post-traumatic growth say: “My priorities have changed.” “I’m not to do what makes me happy.” “I feel closer to friends and family.” “I understand myself better. I know I really am now.” “I have a new sense meaning and purpose in my life.” “I’m better able to on my goals and dreams.”
Now, does this sound familiar? It should, because top five traits of post-traumatic growth are essentially the direct opposite of the top five of the dying. Now this is interesting, right? It seems somehow, a traumatic event can unlock our ability to lead a 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 trauma, without having to hit your head in the place? That would be good, right?
I wanted to the phenomenon better, so I devoured the scientific literature, here’s what I learned. There are four kinds of strength, or resilience, that contribute post-traumatic growth, and there are scientifically validated activities that you can every day to build up these four kinds of resilience, and don’t need a 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 all start building them up together right now. Here’s what we’re to do. We’ll play a quick game together. This is where you earn the and a half minutes of bonus life that I you earlier. All you have to do is successfully complete the first four quests. And I feel like you can do it. I have confidence in you.
So, ready? This is your first quest. Here we go. Pick one: Stand up take three steps, or make your hands into fists, raise them over head as high as you can for five seconds, go! All right, I like people doing both. You are overachievers. Very good.
(Laughter)
Well done, everyone. That is +1 physical resilience, which means that your body can more stress and heal itself faster. We know from research that the number one thing you can do to boost your physical resilience to not sit still. That’s all it takes. Every second that you are not sitting still, you are actively improving health of your heart, and your lungs and brains.
Everybody for your next quest? I want you to snap your fingers exactly 50 times, or count from 100 by seven, like this: 100, 93… Go!
(Snapping)
Don’t up.
(Snapping)
Don’t let the people counting down from 100 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 worth +1 mental resilience, means you have more mental focus, more discipline, determination and willpower. We know from scientific research that willpower actually works like a muscle. It gets stronger the you exercise it. So tackling a tiny challenge without up, even one as absurd as snapping your fingers 50 times or counting backwards from 100 by seven is actually scientifically 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 a and look in. Or do a quick YouTube or Google search for “baby [your favorite 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 what we got. Baby 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, what we’re just feeling there plus-one emotional resilience, which means you have the ability provoke powerful, positive emotions like curiosity or love, which we feel at baby animals, when you need them most.
Here’s a from the scientific literature for you. If you can manage to experience three positive emotions for every 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 emotion ratio. It’s my favorite SuperBetter trick, so keep up.
All right, pick one, last quest: Shake someone’s hand for six seconds, send someone a quick thank you by text, email, or Twitter. Go!
(Chatting)
Looking good, looking good. Nice, nice. it up. I love it! All right, everybody, that is +1 social resilience, which you actually 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 more secret for you: Shaking someone’s hand for six seconds dramatically the level of oxytocin in your bloodstream, now that’s the trust hormone. means that all of you who just shook hands are biochemically primed to like and want to help other. This will linger during the break, so take advantage of the opportunities.
(Laughter)
Well, you have successfully completed your four quests, let’s see if I’ve successfully completed my to give you seven and a half minutes of bonus life. Now I get to share 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 three-to-one positive emotion ratio, if you are never sitting still for more than hour at a time, if you are reaching out to one person you care about every day, if you are tackling tiny goals to boost your willpower, you will 10 years longer than everyone else, and here’s where math I showed you earlier comes in.
So, the 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 can add 10 years of life by boosting your four types of resilience. every single year that you are boosting your four of resilience, you’re actually earning .128 more years of life 46 more days of life, or 67,298 more minutes of life, 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 a half minutes are all yours. You totally earned them.
Yeah!
(Applause)
Awesome. Wait, wait, wait. still have your special mission, your secret mission. How you going to spend these minutes of bonus life?
Well, here’s my suggestion. These and a half bonus minutes are kind of like genie’s wishes. You can use your first wish to wish for million more wishes. Pretty clever, right? So, if you spend these seven and a half minutes doing something that makes you happy, or that gets physically active, or puts you in touch with someone you care about, even just tackling a tiny challenge, you’re going to boost your resilience, you’re going to earn 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 deathbed, which will now be 10 years later than it would have otherwise. And when you there, more than likely, you will not have any those top five regrets, because you will have built the strength and resilience to lead a life truer your dreams. And with 10 extra years, you might have enough time to play a few more games.
Thank you.
(Applause)