Y2K for Kids ou've probably heard people talking about "Y2K" at home or on the news. You may have wondered what it meant. Y2K is shorthand for Year 2000 and is most often used when people talk about the Year 2000 computer problem. What exactly is the problem? Back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s - when computers were first built - the people who designed the programs that make computers run used only two numbers instead of four to indicate the year. For example, 1998 was 98, and 1927 was 27. They did this to save computer space and money. Out of habit, many computer programmers continued to use two numbers instead of four in the 1980s and even in the 1990s. o now, with the year 2000 just months away, this computer "short cut" will make computers think the year 2000 is really the year 1900! The Y2K computer problem is found in computers around the world. Many small computers, called microprocessors or computer chips, run machines, such as your VCR and the elevators in our office buildings. Thousands of people have been hired to work on the problem in the government, in the places you shop, in the companies that give you water, heat, and power, and in your schools. The federal government has been working on fixing its Y2K computer problem since 1989. No one is sure how big the problem is, but everyone agrees that most of it can be fixed by the year 2000. [ How Will Y2K Affect You? | To Learn More | Statement by the President | What is FEMA Doing? | Message from FEMA ]