# Devices show 1970 when they lose track of Unix time

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/your-new-tech-is-still-stuck-in-the-year-1970-heres-why/
- Published: 2026-11-14T16:45:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-14T17:13:45+00:00
- Original publisher: Engadget
- Original article: https://www.engadget.com/2311725/new-tech-stick-in-year-1970-unix-time-explained/
- Topics: Gadgets

## Key points

- Unix time counts seconds from midnight UTC on 1 January 1970.
- A displayed 1970 date often signals a time-reading error.
- The 32-bit limit arrives in January 2038; modern systems use 64-bit time.

## Summary

January 1, 1970 appears on computers because it marks the start of Unix time, the system used by Unix and many operating systems derived from it to count seconds. When a device cannot read the time or receives a zero value, it may display this starting point as a default, making the date a common sign of a timekeeping error.

Unix developers chose the date as an arbitrary starting point and stored time in a signed 32-bit integer, which can represent dates before 1970 as well as after it. That format reaches its limit on 19 January 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC; after it overflows, dates would jump back to 1901. Most modern Unix-like systems have moved to 64-bit timekeeping, which pushes the limit far into the future.

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