Does anyone on here remember the Y2K panic in 1999?

[AlicornSpell 142]

I remember some of it when I was 6 years old. 

The Y2K Scare | National

The Y2K Scare | National Geographic - YouTube

Everything You Wanted to Know About Y2K but Were Afraid to Ask - YouTube

The Y2K Apocalypse - YouTube

Edited February 17, 2021 by AlicornSpell

[raykv423 1,689]

Huh, I honestly don't never ever ever heard of that but maybe you can tell me what it is....?

[AlicornSpell 142]

3 hours ago, raykv423 said:

Huh, I honestly don't never ever ever heard of that but maybe you can tell me what it is....?

Y2K is the shorthand term for "the year 2000." Y2K was commonly used to refer to a widespread computer programming shortcut that was expected to cause extensive havoc as the year changed from 1999 to 2000 at the turn of the Millennium.

Year 2000 problem - Wikipedia

By the way, the 21st Century and the Third Millennium didn't actually begin on January 1, 2000, it actually begun on January 1, 2001. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by AlicornSpell

[Envy 6,000]

I remember it, yes. I was 11 at the time. However, I don't really remember feeling too scared about it. I remember my family and I went over to someone else's house for New Year's Eve and everyone was so light-hearted about it that someone went down and turned off the breaker when we hit the new year just as a joke. I remember seeing Christmas lights on a house nearby and not being fooled. lol

[Brony Number 42 9,933]

Yep, I was there. My computer set itself to 1984 if I remember correctly.

[raykv423 1,689]

20 minutes ago, Metal Brony 42 said:

My computer set itself to 1984

Whaaat? 

Idk why but I found it hilarious for some reason.

You ever read George Orwell's 1984?

[Brony Number 42 9,933]

54 minutes ago, raykv423 said:

Whaaat? 

Idk why but I found it hilarious for some reason.

You ever read George Orwell's 1984?

No. And I could be wrong on the date. But it's funnier if it is true, so let's go with it.

[Twilight Sparkle97 395]

I wasn't born before 2000, so therefore I don't remember it. 

[Megas 27,068]

I just remember it as any other New Years celebration(though I was 5 or 6 at the time) just with more gravitas. Honestly I just remember watching a WWF countdown documentary ending with Chris Jericho showing up, then seeing my parents and the guests watching a celebration at Disneyland on TV

[AppleButt 8,669]

I remember hearing my dad mention it once while eating dinner one night.  Don't remember much else about it though.  

 

[DubWolf 16,621]

I was 6 but nope, don’t remember it.

But what’s weird is that I was obviously conscious at the time (not like when you’re a baby you can’t remember anything from then). I was self aware but weird that I don’t remember it better. I’ll remember stuff from 10 years ago pretty well...

[Northern Star 1,023]

Can't really remember it but I am reminded of it every day as the same grandma who brought MLP into my life also prepared for it, so theres generators, bulk fuel tanks, kerosene heaters, multi fuel stoves, sealed cans of kerosene, solar-dynamo radios, pto generators, a newish outhouse, etc. sitting around the farm and ranch in places and she got better at her aiming(and was given a revolver by a friend)

Never really used any of it as our Regional Electric Cooperative(REC) was too far behind the times to worry about a date issue, they were dealing with vacuum tubes as they used it as a two way approach: no need to spend the money on bringing things up to date if you don't have it and everything will be figured out after that and come down in price.

Also to the 1984 guy, I think it would have been 1900 or 1974 I think...we have a few computers that refuses to work in the 2000s so to them its either the soaring 70s or the roaring 20s.

Edited February 18, 2021 by TheGleaner

[Rising Dusk 26,097]

I sure do.  One of my teachers was pretty crazy about it during the time, but none of my friends or neighbors really cared about it.  At home, I think we were more just tired hearing about it than concerned it would actually happen.  Midnight came around, the New Year began and our computers went from 1999 to 2000 with no problems.

[Odyssey 5,713]

no, my baby zoomer brain doesn't remember any doomsday

[Pentium100 2,057]

I had a floppy disk with some software that checked if my PC was compatible with Y2K (it was). I remember somebody, who worked as a cashier or such saying that the machine wrote wrong date after Y2K.

I also remember writing year 2000 as Y2K and 2001 as Y2K+1 for a while ,

There were supposed to be two ends of the world close to each other. Something was supposed to happen in the summer of 1999 amd then the Y2K problem. 

However, I do not remember my parents buying a lot of canned food and such.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Pentium100

[Astralshy 23,577]

Well, this takes me really back. I'm old enough for remembering this really clearly. There were a lot of speculations and worries but in the end nothing major happend. For me it never felt like a panic though, most likely I also didn't take it too seriously But yes, at the time his topic was everyday everywhere.

Interesting to look back at this .. after 2 decades ... Those were exciting times .. to be sure

4 hours ago, Rising Dusk said:

I sure do.  One of my teachers was pretty crazy about it during the time, but none of my friends or neighbors really cared about it.  At home, I think we were more just tired hearing about it than concerned it would actually happen.  Midnight came around, the New Year began and our computers went from 1999 to 2000 with no problems.

We had more than one of those teachers in school. They were quite proud after nothing happened

[raykv423 1,689]

8 hours ago, TheGleaner said:

roaring 20s

Hold up.

There are actual computers in the 1920s?  Then how come The Great Gatsby doesn't mention them? 

Spoiler

/joke

 

[Stardust 640]

Yea kinda but i was like very young like a toddler I think as a kid I thought it was a joke while everyone else panicking and prime minster says something. They gave out y2k keyrings. In the end it wasn't bad like everyone said. Tbh i know much more about it now ofc reading on it hahaha but yea i have vague recollection. I also remember celebrating the year 2000

[SharpWit 2,472]

I could have sworn there also being something about forgetting that we don't celebrate leap years every turn of the century except every 400 years so a lot of digital calenders would have included a day that doesn't technically exist in terms of how we record it and that came with its own slew of issues? I thought it was mentioned on Wendover Productions/Half as Interesting but didn't find anything.

I should ask my parents what it was like again because being two at the time, my mom was stuck at home with me or I was being babysat.

My now ex-step grandma's neighbor thought it would be the end of days so built a silo shaped shed and filled it with 50lb bags of flour but nothing else that would have of use. 

On 2021-02-17 at 12:37 PM, AlicornSpell said:

By the way, the 21st Century and the Third Millennium didn't actually begin on January 1, 2000, it actually begun on January 1, 2001. 

That's not how our calendar system works. You start from zero just like when counting anything else.

[Sphinx-Ara 3,517]

I sure do.  I was about 11/12 at that time, and it was everywhere. I didn't understand it, but I heard a lot about it.

[Northern Star 1,023]

14 hours ago, raykv423 said:

Hold up.

There are actual computers in the 1920s?  Then how come The Great Gatsby doesn't mention them? 

  Hide contents

/joke

 

'Cause even in 2021, those new fangeled computers we just heard of aren't a thing here in North Dakota, those things are for New Yorkers and fancy rich people and besides they're just a fad anyways 

Fun fact(since you brought it up): There actually are Gatz's in North Dakota(no I'm not one of them)...and the character was based off of North Dakota settlers, who gave up in the middle of state wide drought in the middle of the post war farming recession during the 20s(and credit shortage due to virtually all the banks being owned by companies of MN), and went east to the cities for work, where they were promptly looked down upon as they were from North Dakota, thus the line "dirt poor farmers from North Dakota" and its phrasing as a derogatory term...(the author was from south of Mpls/the cities)

Edited February 19, 2021 by TheGleaner

[DixonTheAdversary 1,631]

I was really young, so I don't remember it at all. However, I do remember the My Name is Earl episode about it.

[Tao 6,737]

Gods,  I had friends parents hiding in basements for 24 hours when this happened,  ready for the world to end.  

[Northern Star 1,023]

I should mention that I know of someone who basically abandoned their farm and bought a boat and is still probably sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, that was in late 99, hasn't been back but still cashes the rent checks and for whatever reason pays for power to his now abandoned yard.

[Venomous 18,813]

I was five years old when this occurred so my memory of it is non-existent. When I saw the episode of Family Guy that parodied it when I was like, 9, I had no idea what it was referring to.