![]() A 1953 San Francisco Examiner article reported on an atomic bomb test in the nearby Nevada desert: “a designated official on a loudspeaker and short-wave radio hookup announces at intervals the time remaining before the explosion. In the years that followed, these same scientists were the ones who brought the term “count down” to the American lexicon. ![]() Notably, in 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists introduced the Doomsday Clock, which to this day provides a visual reckoning of just how close we are to apocalypse. Though disaster has always been a part of American life, the threat of nuclear annihilation introduced pervasive existential fears. Both of these countdown types took form during the Atomic Age. Today, we wonder how much time we have until the next COVID-19 variant, natural disaster, or terrorist attack. But there are also “apocalyptic countdowns,” in which after time runs out, disaster ensues. The wait for the new year-with its predictions, resolutions, and parties-is typically generative, optimistic, and hopeful. The New Year’s Eve countdown might be characterized as a “genesis countdown”: After time runs out, it starts over again. How, then, did the countdown go from almost nonexistent to ubiquitous in the latter half of the 20th century? And why are we so drawn to them now, especially to mark one year’s end and another’s beginning?Ĭountdowns as we know them today serve many purposes. ![]() Celebrations and midnight kisses on December 31, of course. Few people counted down to anything until the 1960s and 1970s-and yes, that included the new year. ![]()
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