Technology And The Y2k Incident Essay
1535 Words
Nov 10th, 2014
7 Pages
Technology and its uses are highly debated in today’s world. Some people feel that the world’s population has truly become addicted to technology, while others see only the good uses of it (Kirschner). Seclusion is more common since the invention of the computer and events such as the Y2K incident have occurred more frequently (Scherrer). Technology is continuously advancing, and as seen through the events of Y2K, people have become too dependent upon it.
Y2K in the ‘90s was an event that caused fear and anxiety for many Americans because of the dependence upon technology. In the 1990s, computers were a piece of technology that were owned by few people but were readily talked about with common knowledge. Up until the 1990 decade, computers did not display the year in four digits, but instead in two (Gregerson). This was because data was precious to the memory of the computers, so in order to save as much as possible the date was shortened (“Y2K”). The computers that were unable to interpret the correct year were said to have been infected with what many people called the Y2K or millennium bug (Anderson). The lack of two digits worried people that the computers would interpret ‘00 as year 1900 instead of year 2000 and discussed the issue throughout the whole decade of the ‘90s (Gregerson). The major fear was that at midnight on January 1, 2000 the infected computers would crash due to the incorrect date (Gregerson).
Belief that the crash of the software would…
Y2K in the ‘90s was an event that caused fear and anxiety for many Americans because of the dependence upon technology. In the 1990s, computers were a piece of technology that were owned by few people but were readily talked about with common knowledge. Up until the 1990 decade, computers did not display the year in four digits, but instead in two (Gregerson). This was because data was precious to the memory of the computers, so in order to save as much as possible the date was shortened (“Y2K”). The computers that were unable to interpret the correct year were said to have been infected with what many people called the Y2K or millennium bug (Anderson). The lack of two digits worried people that the computers would interpret ‘00 as year 1900 instead of year 2000 and discussed the issue throughout the whole decade of the ‘90s (Gregerson). The major fear was that at midnight on January 1, 2000 the infected computers would crash due to the incorrect date (Gregerson).
Belief that the crash of the software would…