as a gen Z I still don't get why Y2K was such a big deal
this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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Computers were not designed to roll over the year. This would have caused the dates to roll back to 1900 or some day in the past, breaking any logic doing math on dates.
The programming community made huge efforts to fix this problem, and they did across many sectors.
The fact that people don't understand how big of a deal this was is due to the efforts of those that did and were able to correct it.
The media talking about power outages and nukes launching due to Y2K was standard news hype/fear mongering during a crisis with rather boring (to the layman) causes and fixes.
Because all software at that point was unable to handle the new date format. Imagine if today, all computer systems had widespread issues at the same time, on the same day. The only reason nothing happened is because people did their jobs.
Hope this helps.
Do people not remember that they didn't have cars until like 1920? Do people not understand that most roads weren't paved until like the 50s? It's foolish to think we're the only generation living through lifetime events. Motherfuckers they were people that went through World War I and World War II. They were veterans of World War 1 that enlisted in World War II. There are people born in the fifties that lived through the computer Revolution. Do people not understand that the internet is only 30 years old?
Yes. They do understand. Its just that These events get closer to each other more and more.
Pretty sure we are in a "unofficial world war 3" considering how there's like 6 countries at war
Russia vs Ukraine
Israel vs Palestine
India vs Pakistan
Americans vs America.
Does US vs the world in economic war count?
That too economic warfare.
And a turd king
You're forgetting hole in the ozone
The hole in the ozone layer is recovering due to the bans on CFCs in the 90s. Climate change deniers deny this and insist that it is something that would have happened anyway...
See, ever now a than, thangs is cold. And thangs is hot.
It’s in yer bi-buhl buddy. Reed it.
:p
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Ya gawt ta reed yer bi-bull!
It tha werd uh tha lorduh!
And climate change
3 or more possible WW3's
It is not unfair to clock the first bit. But you can't count hypothetical WW3s. That's like Boomers saying they lived through Hypothetical Nuclear Winter.
Also, if we're counting recessions as millennials, you can't neglect the '87 crash and the '01 dot-com bubble. If we're counting plagues, you can't leave out AIDS.
Don't forget the savings and loans crisis in the early 90s.
Not hypothetical as much as possible, near misses
-
Up to end of Soviet Union '91
-
US-North Korea-China
-
NATO-Ukraine-Russia
-
US-China-Taiwan (upcoming)
-
US-Israel-Iran (upcoming)
Not hypothetical as much as very real possibilities
Definitely can't leave out AIDS or drug epidemics, mass shootings, living under threat of terrorism
Remember the AIDS PSAs we watched as kids?
“Billy has aids. You cannot get AIDS from being in the room with Billy. The only way to get AIDS from Billy is to come into contact with his blood or other bodily fluids. If you see someone bleeding on the playground, don’t approach them. Get a teacher as quickly as possible. Safety equipment like gloves will prevent an HIV infection.”
I'm GenX and I still remember when they called it GRID and the American Government was like "Shrug. It's just killing the gays. No worries."
Reagan thought it was a blessing from his god.
A lot of us are 40+ but I appreciate your meaning.
Yeah I was going to say, I'm 41 and while I seem more like gen X since I mainly hang around with them and basically grew up around them, I am sadly gen Y.
On a side note, millennial has such a bad connotation around it I prefer to say gen Y. Most people don't associate their negative feelings about millennials with the term gen Y and it just makes life easier during the rare occasions that it comes up.
And gen-x has lived through everything listed and more. Boomers even more. Think gen-x gets to retire? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA good one!
I’m pretty sure there a lot of worse stuff that’s happened in the past 100 years, you just know how that ended.
We know, we learned the details about WW2. Our grandparents and great grandparents actually lived through that, and told us the stories.
All the adults told us it would be better for us than for them. While they fucked everything up and then blame us.
I mean, you take your pick-which generation would you actually want to switch with? Baby boomers had it better economically (if you were a white man) but a lot less tolerance for everything from being a single woman to interracial marriage (much less gay marriage or transgender recognition)
All the adults told us it would be better for us than for them.
All the adults told us that it was our responsibility to do better than they'd done things. Some of the adults tried to help out along the way, while other adults knee-capped us and robbed us and threw us in jail for the crime of becoming poor.
And there's a real selection bias along the way. A friend of mine was six years old when her dad shoved her out of the way of a speeding car. He died. She and the driver lived. She got to grow up in a world without a father willing to give everything to protect her. But the guy who killed her dad kept on ticking.
As we carve out more and more space for reckless, heartless people, we lose the honest and selfless ones along the way. In the end, a generation that selects for selfish people is going to be dominated by the most ruthless.
Most of the adults did tell me to do better, but they also kept repeating that I had it better than they did. Which was partially true at the time depending on who said it, but they still messed things up and blame me for not fixing their mistakes.
And what does that story have to do with generational pressure?
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It's missing working 3 jobs to survive and still being called entitled and lazy
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Yeah, but I think we're going to get a participation trophy. I've been raised to believe this is the case, but that we should not be proud of it, because we're actually garbage.
Y2K wasn't that bad compared to the rest
Y2K wasn't that bad because a billion engineers saw it coming and prepared accordingly. If everyone hadn't been freaking out about it for years beforehand things could have gone very differently.
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The dot-com burst was a recession too.
Oh, and you are ignoring the entire thing where every currency except the dollar was destroyed in the 90s.
Also, history ended in 1986. It seems you didn't get the memo. It would have been typed and nailed into your local clipboard.
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Yes I'm just feeling peachy. Just perfectly peachy.
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