These days, the term “Y2K” is mostly associated with a recurring fashion trend. But a couple of decades ago, it was an ominous abbreviation that emerged in the media — and in the worst nightmares of those who experienced it — for a completely different reason.
Y2K was shorthand for a potential doomsday scenario that envisioned the downfall of global power grids, the wiping out of financial assets at banks and businesses and the general obliteration of the computer systems upon which modern society depends. It was feared that Y2K would literally herald a new dark age, and that the collateral damage in terms of mayhem, suffering and death would be like nothing humanity had experienced since plague times.
Or maybe not.
What Does Y2K Mean?
(Credit: Vitalii Stock/Shutterstock)
