Your new tech is still stuck in the year 1970 — here's why

The date January 1, 1970, may seem arbitrary, but it holds significant importance in the world of computers. This date marks the epoch of Unix time, a system that many modern operating systems, including Linux, macOS, and Android, use to keep track of time. It is the starting point for tracking time in seconds since the midnight of January 1, 1970 in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

One of the main reasons for choosing this date is that it allowed developers to use a 32-bit integer for time tracking, avoiding the issue of running out of space too soon. The epoch was chosen to be round enough to ensure the 32-bit integer wouldn't exceed its capacity for a long time.

However, this system has its limits. The 32-bit integer can only track positive and negative numbers, with the leftmost digit indicating whether it's negative. This cuts the range of possible values in half, which means it has an expiration date. On January 19, 2038, at 3:14:07 AM UTC, this date is known as the "Year 2038 problem". At this point, the integer will overflow, causing the time to incorrectly display December 13, 1901 instead of the intended time.

While most modern systems have already switched to a 64-bit integer, which can track time for over 292 billion years, older systems still in use may run into this problem. These include embedded systems in appliances, vehicles, and cameras. The main risk is that these systems may not be able to update to a solution, and we may have to replace them in the future if time is a critical factor.