JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<p>Following is an item that will keep updating; hover over it to pause on the current value:</p>
<p id="updatePara"></p>

CSS

p {
    padding: 10px;
}
#updatePara {
    color: darkblue;
}

JavaScript

var list = ["Hi there, this is an item.",
            "Another item goes here somewhere.",
            "Whatever, I don't have much imagination.",
            "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."];

var pause = false,
    i = 0;

setInterval(function() {
   if (pause)
      return;

   $("#updatePara").text(list[i++ % list.length]);

}, 500);

$("#updatePara").hover(
   function() {
      pause = true;
   },
   function() {
      pause = false;
   }
);