Misunderstanding and Mass Panic
At the beginning of the Digital Age, storing information on computers took up a lot of space and was extremely costly. It was a common programming practice to store years as only the two digits at the end in order to save computer memory. As the 20th century reached its end, programmers realized that the year 2000 was not accounted for when they designed 2-digit years. Would computers interpret 00 as 2000 or 1900, or would they understand the year at all? This bug might have put systems that relied on dates to schedule their activities at risk. To counter the possible computer errors that might come in the new millennium, the United States government began a remediation effort and passed a bill that would protect companies from being liable for any problems caused by the bug. Programmers across the world worked to find any possible bugs that would be caused by the year 2000 being inputted into systems big and small. It would not take long for the public to take notice of the problem and anxiety was heightened at the turn of the new century. The issue would become widely known as Y2K, "Y" being an abbreviation of "Year" and "K" referring to "Kilo" or 1000 ("2K" meaning "2000").
| Actual Year | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer Year | 98 | 99 | ?? |
The passing of the bill and nationwide effort to resolve the bug before the new millennium caught the attention of the public, and mass panic began to set in. At the time, knowledge of how computers actually worked was limited. With a vague idea that dates could be messed up in major computer systems, people began theorizing the effects of the Y2K problem. Banking transactions could be halted, transportation systems such as trains or airplanes could be interrupted, or nuclear safety provisions could be missed. What began as a simple programming error led to misconceptions that planes would fall out of the sky, nuclear bombs would go off, and the apocalypse would occur when the clock struck midnight. Paranoid citizens began stocking up on food and water, which led to shortages, which led to more panic. Although many doubted that serious effects would happen from the Y2K bug, there were still plenty of people who withdrew large sums of money from the bank and took up arms in preparation for an apocalypse. As fireworks went off the signify the new millennium, what should have been a time of celebration was a time of fear for many who had listened to the misinformation on technology that was spread across the nation.
The morning of January 1, 2000, was just like any morning that came before it for doomsday preppers and naysayers alike. In reality, the new millennium only brought minor inconveniences in some systems. Temporary airport luggage sorting system shutdowns led to longer wait times, some slot machines in Las Vegas shut down for a little bit, and some signs read "1900" or "19100" instead of "2000," but no catastrophic events occurred because of the Y2K bug. Some argue that the remediation efforts of programmers across the world were responsible for protecting the affected computer systems. It is possible that the contingency plans put in place for Y2K were effective in preventing a total shutdown in several New York systems during the 9/11 terrorist attacks the following year. However, several countries such as South Korea did very little to prepare for Y2K and ended up experiencing the exact same effects in their computer systems as countries that had spent millions in preparation for any system failures in the coming millennium.
The paranoia of Y2K seems foolish in retrospect. However, the implications of this experience could still be applied to today's technology. It reminds programmers to practice programming proactively, constantly checking for potential bugs. The hysteria caused by Y2K also emphasizes the importance of education. When a technology like computers was so widespread yet still unknown to the public, nobody could blame the people of the 90s for being paranoid about it. Today, there are still conspiracy theories surrounding new technology because it is not well understood, especially in older demographics. In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic was blamed on newly installed 5G networks by those who did not have a complete understanding of how cell towers work. Had the public been educated on this new technology before it was installed nationwide, perhaps the response to COVID-19 safety protocols would have been better received and mass paranoia reduced. Technology is what paves the way to future possibilities, but a misunderstanding of new technology triggers an instinctual fear of the unknown which may prevent the development of society as a whole.
