# What would you do if you could stop time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334 "2009-06-10T15:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/1 "2009-06-10T15:26:44Z")
Suppose you could stop and start time at will and move around as normal. This has been an ongoing daydream/wish/fantasy since I was a child. For discussion purposes you can breathe normally and manipulate objects “frozen” in time and “re-freeze” them. You do not age in “frozen time”. I would probably try live life as normally as possible occasionally stopping time to slap the shit out of rude drivers, take care of time-consuming chores and errands and the odd giving into puerile curiosity. I would make sure the Bears would win the Superbowl. For years. Aw, who am I kidding. I would make people disappear and re-appear during live press conferences. Pants politicians. Fill streets with truckloads of superballs. Win multiple Olympic events against skilled and trained opponents. Fight fires instantly. What would you do? ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/2 "2009-06-10T15:54:42Z")
Hahaha, I’d likely do pretty much the same as you. I’ve often thought of this scenario too. I’d probably freeze time if I saw a catastrophic event about to happen so I could remove people who may be injured, or change the situation so it wasn’t quite so catastrophic. I’d hope I’d do good things mostly, but I know I’d give in to some evil pranks as well. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/3 "2009-06-10T16:13:41Z")
The part where King Friday on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood has to sing a song to Sara about his feelings over losing the Battle of Stalingrad seems somewhat amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/4 "2009-06-10T16:20:09Z")
Women’s locker rooms. Any straight male who says otherwise is lying. ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/5 "2009-06-10T16:28:39Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Women’s locker rooms. Any straight male who says otherwise is lying. You could create that atmosphere anywhere! I wonder if some shadowy government type were to find out your abilities if they would try and recruit you into their shenanigans or dispose of you. Could they be successful in containing you? I can’t imagine I’d be easy to arrest. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/6 "2009-06-10T16:31:34Z")
Another excellent thread title/OP name combo! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/7 "2009-06-10T16:45:12Z")
Right now, I’d just use my powers to write my dissertation and catch up on sleep. How’s that for boring? A follow-up question: What does a chronic procrastinator do with this sort of ability? Would they ever do any work or come out of frozen time?? ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/8 "2009-06-10T16:55:06Z")
Commute, sleep, read. Sow chaos and confusion. I mean, think about, I could repaint the statuary behind politians during broadcasts so they appear animated. I could add genitalia to every news broadcast. I could replace the national anthems played at the Olympics with Weird Al. And I’d always have a full night’s sleep, I’d never have to worry about traffic, and I could every book ever written. I’d also make Dallas lose every football game until I forgot about Herschel Walker. And no NHL team south of St. Louis would ever win again. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/9 "2009-06-10T17:08:01Z")
Sleep, eat and read, things that I can do without interacting with others. Single player computer games if the power will let me ( where’d the electricity come from ? ) Perhaps buy a motorcycle so I can travel in timestop without being blocked by the stopped cars. And yes, I daydream about this occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/10 "2009-06-10T17:11:05Z")
I’d get my phd finished and then never use it again. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/11 "2009-06-10T17:16:12Z")
> [@Mooch](#): > > Pants politicians. > What would you do? This. But replace “politicians” with “everyone.” Anyone who ever insulted me publically, I would warn them that I was protected by powerful forces. Then I would freeze time, bludgeon them to within an inch of their lives, restart time, and announce to the witnesses, “BEHOLD!” as theatrically as possible. Yes, I’m petty. And with the power of timestop\*, I’d be a petty god. \*Thanks for that word, **Der Trihs**. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/12 "2009-06-10T17:44:55Z")
Most of what I’d do would be taken from _The Fermata_, by Nicholson Baker. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/13 "2009-06-10T18:01:46Z")
I’d probably walk around for thousands of years, going from place to place, seeing the sights, etc. People in sweatshops would suddenly find their overseers gone… every gun would disappear from warzones and the presidents of the warring countries would find themselves at a table sitting in the middle of it. Things like that. After a while though, I imagine the altruism would wear off, and I would begin behaving badly, messing with people, killing people that deserved it, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/14 "2009-06-10T18:01:49Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Most of what I’d do would be taken from _The Fermata_, by Nicholson Baker. That was a weird book, what with all the pooping. Ever see **Cashback**? Now that’s more like it. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/15 "2009-06-10T20:03:40Z")
My problem with time-stopping ability was always… "But what do you _breathe?!"_ Lots of reading. A full night of sleep every day (but none of it in real time!). Travel everywhere. (Would water freeze in place, that you could walk across the ocean?) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/16 "2009-06-10T20:49:07Z")
For my first few hours, I’d read John D. MacDonald’s, “The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything”. I love that book, and it would apropos. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/17 "2009-06-10T21:09:44Z")
Work for the government to kidnap and bring back notable terrorists. Get photos of them, where they may be hiding out, stop time, travel to where they are, load them up in a pickup truck and drive them back to a prison camp (or East St. Louis at 1 a.m.) I’d probably sleep off the clock. Every 16 hours I’d stop the clock and sleep for 8 hours. Wake up and turn time back on again. In real time it would be like never having to sleep. Venture into resricted areas. Area 51, The Whitehouse, etc. Cheat at gambling to make myself rich. Wait for the cards to be dealt then swap them out for the good ones. Or heck, just walk off with the casino’s money. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/18 "2009-06-10T21:21:17Z")
I would definitely sleep in timestop. Actually, that’s a no-brainer for most folks, since, as stated in the OP, one wouldn’t age while sleeping in timestop but would age while sleeping out of it. I’d commute on foot as much as possible. I’d do my reading in timestop. I’m getting annoyed by how much of my time gets taken up by assigned readings. Hopefully I’d also have the gumption to read all those books that I want to have read. As for DVD watching, I would (if possible) get a laptop computer with a good screen and optical drive, and plenty of spare battery packs. Oh, also, I would steal things. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/19 "2009-06-10T21:27:48Z")
If it didn’t require some complicated process, stop accidents from happening. When I’m dealing with something like a pushy salesman (or with Dad’s horrible “talks” back in school), stop time to give myself time to think things over. Once I got more confidence I might do other stuff, but in general I don’t think I’d do anything that I saw as being disruptive to society (I believe in change but not that it should be brought by a single person) or damaging to other people (even if it was just their pride). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334/20 "2009-06-10T21:31:27Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Women’s locker rooms. Any straight male who says otherwise is lying. As a closeted gay teen I often fantised about stopping time and stripping some of the jocks naked and leaving them in public when I restarted time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-could-stop-time/499334.md?page=2)