Business and government teams worked to check systems and update software before it turned 2000. Many industries were well on their way, but many feared that the government was not as caught up. This is where the frenzy began. Even after tens of billions of dollars were spent on fixing issues related to the Y2K issue, people still feared a collapse, preparing for the worst. Regulators in the nation warned that the frenzy would likely cause more damage than the actual event. The national infrastructure was going to hold, but the overreaction continued. People were doing bank runs, emptying all their money in the fear of a bank collapse. People could begin to hoard food and gasoline, preparing for a breakdown of order. Gun sales went up, causing increased gun violence. However, as the year turned, there were few major issues. The Y2K problem had been avoided, and world order remained.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/technology/Y2K-bug
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/09/business/fear-of-the-year-2000-bug-is-a-problem-too.html
https://pastdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Y2K-resize.jpg
Super great post Aaron! Its funny yet also alarming to think of how we thought the technological world would end with the millennial, and even funnier to think how seriously people prepared for it. I think this only speaks to Americans fear of the end of the world.While this is on a smaller scale, this is similar to the myth that the world was going to end in 2012. According to some ancient Mayan belief, the world was going to end in 2012 and there would be a "Doomsday". I even think they may have made a movie about it with the Rock or Something called "2012" and what would have happened if it all ended like the Mayans predicted. Overall amazing post and excited to see more down the road.
ReplyDeleteLooking back it seems kind of crazy that mass hysteria was created because of such a small and non important issue just as the 1999 turning into 2000. The problem of people predicting the world is going to end still goes on today when some other small irrelevant excuses seem like the end of the world. It's always interesting to see how these people prepare for the end of the world and we noticed at y2k that more guns were being bought which was not surprising but interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post. I feel like the Y2K crisis, although clearly unwarranted in hindsight, did stir up an immense amount of panic. This crisis even triggered panic on a worldwide scale, and forced the US to make foreign politics adjustments as well. For example, out of panic, the US and Russia came to an agreement to set up a unit to monitor accidental missile mishaps during Y2K. Although a clear moment of panic, it shows how Y2K could still increase diplomacy between two countries.
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-01-16/news/0001160164_1_missile-peterson-air-force-base-y2k
This is a really interesting post! Apparently before Y2K, Time Magazine had a "war room" in their basement that was full of computers and equipment ready to publish their magazine just in case there was a technological breakdown. Looking back, it's really strange how panicked people were and how dependent everyone was on computers.
ReplyDeletehttp://time.com/3645828/y2k-look-back/
Its funny how Americans almost always think that the world is going to end at a certain time or they would be overtaken by something foreign. Looking back on the past, they did not have much knowledge of the world itself, so to assume that the world was going to end when their computers where glitching would seem more than reasonable. Now, whenever there is something foreign, we would dissect it to pieces in order to understand everything about it.
ReplyDeleteIt's really funny to look back at history like this and see clips of people getting ready for the world to end. Despite the public concerning about the Y2K, Apple used this as an opportunity and advertised with "Hal 2000"/"Hal 9000", (inspired from A Space Odyssey) and had the character in their ad to say that only Apple products would be the only computer in the market that would be able to withstand the Y2K problems. Here's the ad from 1999: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7RocKZKhLw
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/apple-history-through-advertising-40-years-anniversary-2017-2#1999-hal-2000-16