In Focus

The 1990s were something else. As a 90s child on the West Coast, the hot items were Sanrio (Hello Kitty and Friends), Roxy surf shirts, Jansport backpacks—I still have mine, thank you very much—Pogs, beanie babies, and so much more. I still find it hard to believe Y2K was 25 years ago now.

Y2K, or the Millennium Bug, was a massive fear that computers wouldn’t be able to distinguish the “00” for the year 2000 and instead think of “1900.” When computer programs were first written in the 1960s, engineers used a two-digit code for the year, leaving out the “19.” As 2000 approached, many believed the systems would not correctly interpret the “00”, causing a significant glitch. Many feared this would cause a glitch in computer systems that would cause disruptions in banking—making it unable to withdraw funds, power outages, medical equipment, transportation systems, and anything that had a computer chip was thought it would either go down or go haywire. The solution was to expand to a four-digit number. Governments worked to address the problem. The U.S. spent millions to combat the issue. 

In October 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act to encourage companies to share critical information about Y2K. The law was designed to encourage American companies to share Y2K data by offering them limited liability protection for sharing information about Y2K products, methods, and best practices.

I remember watching the news, where people were stocking up on items and creating shelters to ride out whatever would happen once the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2000. There were entire survival guides created for Y2K. People were told to turn off their computers before midnight. Some companies even had stickers on their computers to remind people to do so, which, of course, added to the hysteria. 

Here were the top 10 of the most dramatic advice given on enduring a worldwide meltdown for Y2K: become a wanderer, know the seven enemies of survival (boredom, pain, thirst, fatigue, temperature extremes, hunger, and fear), get a safe house, don’t flaunt your assets, don’t warn your family about Y2K (make your decisions based on the facts and then prepare quietly and consistently), sell your nice stuff, consider “alternative appliances” if there is no electricity, grab a bucket because waste disposal would be down, buy a water bed so you can drink it, and use toilet paper as currency. 

As the clock hit midnight, my 13-year-old self, who had only been in Minnesota for about four months, watched the ball drop on MTV in my bedroom. Nothing happened. My computer was working fine the next day. Everything was working as it should. However, some minor glitches were reported here and there. A nuclear facility in Japan had a glitch, but it was fixed before it was a danger to the public. A video store calculated a movie was 100 years overdue and charged a customer $91,250 in late fees. But the world didn’t end. Electronics and infrastructure continued to work. And the doomsday preppers ended up returning a lot of items. 

After years of hype and hysteria, nothing happened, and many brushed it off as a hoax. I was a kid and honestly couldn’t care less about what the adults were worried about at that time. I was acclimating to a new house, in a new town, in a new state, and it was cold!

After taking a look back...let’s look forward...Happy New Year!