I’m a gamer, 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 the life span of every single person in this room by seven and a half minutes. Literally, you live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because watched this talk.
Some of you are looking a little bit skeptical. That’s okay, because it out — I have math to prove that it 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 will be my gift to you if I’m in my mission.
Now, you have a secret mission too. Your mission is to figure out how want to spend your extra seven and a half minutes. And I think should do something unusual with them, because these are bonus minutes. weren’t going to have them anyway.
Now, because I’m a game designer, you might be thinking to yourself, know what she wants us to do with those minutes, wants us to spend them playing games. Now this is a totally reasonable assumption, given that have made quite a habit of encouraging people to spend more time playing games. For example, in my TED Talk, I did propose that we should spend 21 billion hours a week, as planet, playing video games.
Now, 21 billion hours, it’s a lot time. It’s so much time, in fact, that the number one unsolicited comment that have heard from people all over the world since I gave that talk, is this: Jane, are great and all, but on your deathbed, are really going to wish you spent more time playing Angry Birds?
(Laughter)
This idea is pervasive — 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, cab driver, upon finding out that a friend and were in town for a game developers’ conference, turned around and — and I quote — “I hate games. Waste of life. getting to the end of your life and regretting all 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 I been thinking about this question a lot lately. When we’re our deathbeds, will we regret the time we spent 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 us at the of our lives, recently issued a report on the most frequently expressed regrets that say when they are literally on their deathbeds. And that’s what want to share with you today — the top regrets of the dying.
Number one: I wish I hadn’t so hard. Number two: I wish I had stayed in touch my friends. Number three: I wish I had let myself be happier. Number four: I 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 others expected of 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 top five of the dying, I can’t help but hear five deep human that games actually help us fulfill.
For example, I I hadn’t worked so hard. For many people, this means, I wish I’d spent time with my family, with my kids when they were growing up. Well, we know playing games together has tremendous family benefits. A recent from Brigham Young University School of Family Life reported that parents spend more 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 people use social like FarmVille or Words With Friends to stay in daily contact with real-life and family. A recent study from the University of Michigan showed these games are incredibly powerful relationship-management tools. They help us connected with people in our social network that we would 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 East University that showed that online games can outperform pharmaceuticals treating clinical anxiety and depression. Just 30 minutes of online game play day was enough to create dramatic boosts in mood and long-term increases in happiness.
“I wish I’d had courage 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 a gamer with his avatar. And Stanford University has been doing for five years now to document how playing a game with an idealized changes how we think and act in real life, making us courageous, more 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 a Super Mario question mark. We’re going to come 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 to die. Really wanting to die.
Now me tell you that 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, memory loss, mental fog. doctor told me that in order to heal my brain, I had to rest it. So I had to everything 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 you see where 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, you to die.” It said, “You’re never going to get better.” It said, “The pain will never end.”
And voices became so persistent and so persuasive that I started legitimately fear for my life, which is the time that I said to after 34 days — and I will never forget this moment — I said, “I either 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 that when we play a game — and this is in the scientific — we tackle tough challenges with more creativity, more determination, more optimism, and we’re more likely to reach to others for help. I wanted to bring these gamer 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 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 ask for help.
She became my first ally in game, my husband Kiyash joined next, and together we identified battled the bad guys. Now this was anything that could trigger my symptoms therefore slow down the healing process, things like bright lights and crowded spaces. also collected and activated power-ups. This was anything I could do on even worst day to feel just a little bit good, just a little bit productive. Things cuddling my dog for 10 minutes, or getting out of bed and walking the block just once.
Now the game was that simple: Adopt a identity, recruit your allies, battle the bad guys, activate power-ups. But even with a game so simple, within just couple days of starting to play, that fog of depression and anxiety went away. It just vanished. felt like a miracle. Now it wasn’t a miracle for the headaches or the cognitive symptoms. That lasted for more a year, and it was the hardest year of my life far. But even when I still had the symptoms, while I was still in pain, I stopped suffering.
Now what happened next with the surprised me. I put up some blog posts and videos online, explaining how play. But not everybody has a concussion, obviously, not wants to be “the slayer,” so I renamed the SuperBetter.
And soon, I started hearing from people all the world who were adopting their own secret identity, recruiting 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 their messages and their videos the game was helping them in the same ways it helped me. They talked about feeling stronger and braver. They about feeling better understood by their friends and family. And they talked about feeling happier, even though they were in pain, though they were tackling the toughest challenge of their lives.
Now at time, I’m thinking to myself, what is going on here? mean, how could a game so trivial intervene so powerfully such serious, and in some cases life-and-death, circumstances? I mean, it hadn’t worked for me, there’s no way I would have it was possible. Well, it turns out there’s some here, too. Some people get stronger and happier after a event. And that’s what was happening to us.
The game was helping us experience scientists call post-traumatic growth, which is not something we usually about. We usually hear about post-traumatic stress disorder. But scientists now know that a event doesn’t doom us to suffer indefinitely. Instead, we use it as a springboard to unleash our best qualities 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 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 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 direct opposite of the top five regrets of the dying. Now is interesting, right? It seems that somehow, a traumatic can unlock our ability to lead a life with fewer regrets.
But does it work? How do you get from trauma to growth? Or better yet, there a way to get all the benefits of post-traumatic growth the trauma, without having to hit your head in the place? That would be good, right?
I wanted to understand phenomenon better, so I devoured the scientific literature, and here’s I learned. There are four kinds of strength, or resilience, contribute to post-traumatic growth, and there are scientifically validated activities you can do every day to build up these kinds of resilience, and you don’t need a trauma do it.
I could tell you what these four types of strength are, but I’d rather you them firsthand. I’d rather we all start building them together right now. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll play quick game together. This is where you earn the and a half minutes of bonus life that I promised earlier. All you have to do is successfully complete the first SuperBetter quests. And I feel like you can do it. I have confidence you.
So, everybody 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 your as high as you can for five seconds, go! All right, I like the people doing both. are overachievers. Very good.
(Laughter)
Well done, everyone. That worth +1 physical resilience, which means that your body can withstand more stress heal itself faster. We know from the research that the number thing you can do to boost your physical resilience is to not sit still. That’s all takes. Every single second that you are not sitting still, are actively improving the health of your heart, and your and brains.
Everybody ready for your next quest? I you to snap your fingers exactly 50 times, or count from 100 by seven, like this: 100, 93… Go!
(Snapping)
Don’t give up.
(Snapping)
Don’t let the people counting down 100 interfere with your 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, which means you have more mental focus, discipline, determination and willpower. We know from the scientific that willpower actually works like a muscle. It gets the more you exercise it. So tackling a tiny challenge without up, even one as absurd as snapping your fingers exactly 50 times or counting backwards 100 by seven is actually a scientifically validated way to boost 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, a window and look out of it. If you’re outside, a window and look in. Or do a quick YouTube Google image search for “baby [your favorite animal.]”
Do it on your phones, or shout out some baby animals, and I’ll put them the screen. So, what do we want to see? Sloth, giraffe, elephant, snake. Okay, let’s see what we got. Baby dolphin and baby llamas. look. Got that? Okay, one more. Baby elephant.
(Audience) Oh!
We’re for that? That’s amazing.
(Laughter)
All right, what we’re feeling there is plus-one emotional resilience, which means you the ability to provoke powerful, positive emotions like curiosity or love, which we feel looking at baby animals, you need them most.
Here’s a secret from the literature for you. If you can manage to experience three positive emotions for one negative emotion over the course of an hour, a day, a week, you dramatically your health and your ability to successfully tackle any you’re facing. And this is called the three-to-one positive emotion ratio. It’s my favorite SuperBetter trick, so it up.
All right, pick one, last quest: Shake someone’s hand six seconds, or send someone a quick thank you text, email, Facebook or Twitter. Go!
(Chatting)
Looking good, looking good. Nice, nice. Keep up. I love it! All right, everybody, that is +1 resilience, which means you actually get more strength from your friends, your neighbors, your family, your community. Now, great way to boost social resilience is gratitude. Touch is even better.
Here’s more secret for you: Shaking someone’s hand for six seconds raises the level of oxytocin in your bloodstream, now that’s the trust hormone. That means that of you who just shook hands are biochemically primed to and want to help each other. This will linger during break, so take advantage of the networking opportunities.
(Laughter)
Well, you have completed your four quests, let’s see if I’ve successfully completed my mission to you seven and 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 resilience — physical, mental, emotional and social — live 10 years longer everyone else. So this is true. If you are regularly achieving the three-to-one positive emotion ratio, you are never sitting still for more than an hour at a time, if you are out to one person you care about every single day, if are tackling tiny goals to boost your willpower, you will live 10 years longer than everyone else, here’s where that math I showed you earlier comes in.
So, the average life expectancy 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. So single year that you are boosting your four types of resilience, you’re actually .128 more years of life or 46 more days life, or 67,298 more minutes of life, which means single day, you are earning 184 minutes of life, or single hour that you are boosting your four types of resilience, we just did together, you are earning 7.68245837 more minutes life.
Congratulations, those seven and a half minutes are all yours. totally earned them.
Yeah!
(Applause)
Awesome. Wait, wait, wait. You have your special mission, your secret mission. How are going to spend these minutes of bonus life?
Well, here’s my suggestion. These seven a half bonus minutes are kind of like genie’s wishes. You can use your first wish to for a million more wishes. Pretty clever, right? So, if 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 tiny challenge, you’re going to your resilience, so you’re going to earn more minutes.
And the news is, you can keep going like that. Every hour of the day, day of your life, all the way to your deathbed, which will now be 10 years than it would have otherwise. And when you get there, more than likely, will not have any of those top five regrets, because will have built up the strength and resilience to lead a life truer to your dreams. And 10 extra years, you might even have enough time to play a more games.
Thank you.
(Applause)