Help with code malfunction in timer

Other Hardware Science and Measurement
1

I have made a simple timer to show the seconds since the last time the clear button was pressed (button1). it has a pause button (button2) and in the code it is supposed to pause the timer when it is pressed, the clear button works fine but the board is "ignoring" the pause button no matter what i do. any ideas? everything i have found is either too irrelevant to use or doesn't make sense.
'

//This program simply states the number of seconds
//since the last reset, along with a "Hello World!" text.
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);
int seconds = 0;
const int button1 = 8;
const int button2 = 7;
int result = 0;
int oldButtonState = LOW;
int newButtonState;
void setup() {
  pinMode(button1, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(button2, INPUT);
  lcd.begin(16, 2);
  // 0,0 is first line, first row; 0,1 is second line, first row
  lcd.print("STARTING UP");
  delay(600);
    for (int x=0; x <= 2; x++){
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.print("Please Wait");
      delay(600);
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.print("Please Wait.");
      delay(600);
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.print("Please Wait..");
      delay(600);
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.print("Please Wait...");
      delay(600);
  }
  lcd.clear();
  delay(670);
}
void loop() {
  if (digitalRead(button2) == HIGH){newButtonState = HIGH;}
  else if(digitalRead(button2) == LOW){newButtonState = LOW;}
  oldButtonState = LOW;
  if (newButtonState == HIGH && oldButtonState == LOW){
     //button was pressed, but not now
     while(newButtonState == HIGH && oldButtonState == LOW){
           seconds++;
  if (digitalRead(button1) == LOW){
    seconds = 0;
  }
  lcd.clear();
  lcd.print("Counter v1.5");
  lcd.setCursor(0,1);
  lcd.print("Seconds: ");
  lcd.print(seconds);
  delay(1000);
     }
  }
  else if (newButtonState == LOW && oldButtonState == HIGH){
     //button wasnt pressed, but is now
     while(newButtonState == LOW && oldButtonState == HIGH){
       lcd.clear();
       lcd.print("PAUSED");
       delay(500);
  }
  }
  oldButtonState = newButtonState;
}
2

How are the buttons wired?
Why is the button2 pin not defined as INPUT_PULLUP whereas button1 pin is?

You might want to try one of the button debouncing libraries.

3

The pause button is wired as an input rather than in an input pull up is the result of trying to get it to work. Where would i put the debounce (assuming its either a function or a small delay)?

4

Again, how are the buttons wired?

5

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that the script can only detect the button status at the beginning of the loop or the end - during the two if statements in the loop part of your script.

It will not detect keypress during the delay(1000); or delay(500);

Interrupts might be worth looking into

use an interrupt to set switch state when it changes state (use interupt state Changing).

then use the interrupt set high/low value to compare with your "oldbuttonstate"

6

You're setting oldButtonState to LOW everytime round loop(), of course it can't work!