If your favorite hobby/activity somehow no longer existed, what would you instead to spend/pass the time?

WOW.  That's a tough one.  I'll answer it on two levels.  My favorite "hobby" (I think it deserves a stronger word than that) is reading (and writing), and my mind boggles at the possibility of never again reading anything anyone else has written or writing down my own thoughts. No books, journals, papers, computer columns (I personally despise the word 'blog').  That world would be so different.  Communication would be different.  Humans would interact differently. I guess I'd try to build things, and try to develop ways for people to communicate with one another. But you may have meant the question as a simpler level.  Let's ignore reading (it's a necessity), and say my favorite pastime is racquet sports (racquetball, tennis).  If such games did not exist... well, I married into a golfing family, and though I do  own golf clubs, I am such an anemic golfer that I still occasionally swing and miss.  (THERE'S something that boggles the mind.  I can handle a 130-mph racquetball serve, yet swing and miss at a STATIONARY OBJECT).  Pattie, a former club champion, said the first time she saw me play golf, it was like watching polo without the horse. I have advanced to breaking 50 3 times in my life for 9 holes. I still have the feeling I haven't answered the question the way you wanted it answered, though.  Have I?

I have varied interests and it would be hard for me to choose a favorite. That said, for instance, if photography were snatched away from me, for some reason, I'd be really pissed for a while, even if I subconsciously start looking for some way to express myself.  I'd actually be miserable, because I don't have the patience to take up painting, or sketching - creating images I no longer can as a photographer. I'd focus an undue amount of energy in the hope that I can somehow get myself a camera and start taking pictures again.  Maybe a pin-hole camera if lenses are forbidden.  I'd go crazy and might end up starting a movement to bring photography back.  Some sort of fight is inevitable. If I had no memory of it, or no cognizance of its existence - if this hobby/activity was taken away so completely, I'd have much less of a problem I'd imagine.  Then I'd only have to worry about how to fill that time I dedicate to it.  Other activities will get a little more attention, and the one neglected pursuit - learning to play a musical instrument, would come to the fore.  That might actually be delightful!

My favourite hobby is reading. If all books should vanish, then then the answer would depend on a. If I was conscious of their absence - I would jump off a cliff. b. If I did not know that books existed - I would listen to music - only more of it than I already do.