What If You Were Trapped In A Time Loop? | Unveiled

What if You Were Trapped in a Time Loop?

Reliving the same day over and over again may not sound like the worst way to spend your time, but it could quickly turn into a nightmare. Though usually without any real scientific precedent, this particular sci-fi staple has been used in countless books, films and TV shows. But what if this fantastical concept suddenly became your reality?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what if you were trapped in a time loop?

The 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” is arguably the most famous time loop story of all time, while more recent entries to this niche sci-fi sub-genre include “Source Code” in 2011 and “Happy Death Day” in 2017. The general time loop concept actually dates back way further, though, to the days of science-fiction pulp magazines in the 1940s. Malcolm Jameson can perhaps lay claim to being the first writer to use the time loop, in his 1941 short story “Doubled and Redoubled”. It follows Jimmy Childers on what he initially considers to be the best day of his life - he gets a promotion, thwarts a bank robbery, wins some money, and gets engaged - but he mistakenly wishes that every day could be just as good as that one, causing him to endlessly relive it until he can break the curse. Since Jameson’s trend-setting tale, the time loop has been developed into a plot device used to cause the protagonist to in some way “grow” as a person. There’s often a problem to solve (that’s only solvable after repeat tries) or an epiphany-like moment, when the character realises the error of their past ways (having had to experience them over and over again).

But with no solid science behind time loops, why do we keep “looping” back to them? Why are they so popular? Perhaps déjà vu is to blame. Almost everybody has had déjà vu at one time; the strange feeling that what you’re currently experiencing has already happened. It’s usually the first explanation a protagonist in a time loop story comes up with to rationalize what’s happening to them, sometimes assuming that their previous day (the one they’re now repeating) was just a “strange dream”.

As well as déjà vu, the unsettlingly familiarity of a time loop might have something to do with the fact that most people do live in “time loops” to an extent. People have daily routines where they wake up, eat breakfast, go to work or school, come home, and so on; while this is definitely not the same as literally reliving one day over and over, it does mean that the idea of a time loop isn’t too far removed from our reality. It doesn’t demand that we significantly “suspend our disbelief”, which may be another reason why the stories can be so compelling.

Déjà vu isn’t always a weird but otherwise harmless sensation that passes after a few seconds, however. In 2014, the Journal of Medical Case Reports published a bizarre study of an anonymous 23-year-old British man who had persistent déjà vu: the feeling never subsided, making him perpetually feel as though everything he was experiencing had already happened. At its worst, he was unable to lead a normal life, even having to drop out of college. And his isn’t the only known case of “persistent déjà vu”, either. In the year 2000, for example, an 80-year-old Polish man also reported suffering from it, alongside other cognitive problems including dementia.

For the Brit in the 2014 report, however, when he went to see a neurologist, nothing out of the ordinary was found. He did have a history of anxiety, and it was ultimately reasoned that this may have been causing the déjà vu. He was prescribed a range of medications, but he still had to stop watching TV and reading the news because he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d seen and read it all before. To some degree, anxiety and memory function do seem to be linked. A 2009 study focussing on how we remember words, for example, found that the participants who reported higher levels of anxiety were also prone to making false positives; during the test, they were more likely to incorrectly identify words that they hadn’t been shown beforehand. These findings don’t exactly do much to explain away constant déjà vu, but they do show how increased stress can alter how the brain works.

Extreme déjà vu or not, though, what would happen if you really did find yourself trapped in the same, interminable day? If science-fiction is anything to go by, then there’s probably something specific you have to do in order to escape. In “Groundhog Day”, Phil Connors has to use his loops to become a better, kinder man; in “Happy Death Day”, Tree must also become a better person, but more importantly, she has to solve her own murder; in “Source Code”, Stevens has to hunt down a terrorist to prevent an attack. In short, if you’re in a time loop, there’s a reason you’re in a time loop. Even if that reason is simply that you got on the wrong side of a disgruntled witch, as happened in the inaugural “Doubled and Redoubled”.

However, there’s no guarantee that your secret time loop mission will lead to something good… In some time travel stories, the solution to the problem is one of ultimate sacrifice. Donnie Darko needs to travel back in time to relive a freak accident; and, in the video game “Life is Strange”, Max rewinds time only to face an unthinkable choice. While it’s possible your time loop shenanigans might be ended by something seemingly inconsequential, like learning how to ice sculpt as per Bill Murray, they also might require you to truly suffer in order to fix the space-time continuum.

Being stuck in a time loop isn’t a situation anybody wants to be in for the long-haul, then, which is another reason it makes for good film and TV; because there’s constant, existential tension. But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t at least try to have some fun while you’re there… You’re essentially immortal until the loop is broken (even if you do unfortunately die over and over again within the loop itself) so there’s endless opportunity to do whatever you want. You could learn languages, master musical instruments, or you could read every book ever written, and watch every movie and TV show ever made. You’d never have to clean up or do chores because you’d be safe in the knowledge that everything would eventually reset. It’d be a life without consequences.

But there’s no escaping the fact that a time loop would still be frustrating and, above all else, an incredibly lonely place. Even if you found somebody who believed your predicament, you’d have to re-explain your incredible situation to them every single day, with no guarantee that they’ll believe you every time or that they’d ever be able to help you out of it. There is no real-world equivalent here, but the reported experiences of persistent déjà vu sufferers give a small glimpse into just how distressing, even harrowing, such a life could be. The world will have lost its promise, and life will have become a predictable series of repetitive experiences. And that’s what would happen if you were trapped in a time loop.