Date Matters: YYYY-MM-DD, Please

Get it right and you’ll lose weight, boost your productivity by 50% and become wealthy in less than a week—honest!

Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash, modified by Author.

You think I made spurious claims with the sub-head of this piece, don’t you? Not so! I speak the truth.

Read on and you’ll see.

But first, think back to when you were 10. How were you taught to write the (short) date at the top of that lined page with the red margin down the left-hand side?

If you were a kid growing up in Australia, as I was, you’ll have written the 4th of March like this: 4/3/21. But if you grew up in the US, you probably wrote it as 3/4/21. Children in Asian countries are usually taught to write 21/3/4.

12/2/21: This palindrome could have some people rocking up nearly a year late and others missing it by a century. Don’t let this happen to you, my festive friend. Illustration compiled in GoodNotes, by Author.

You can see the problem.

The Australian kids are always going to be early (and not just because of the time zone thing) while American kids will probably be late. Asian kids will be right on time for their Aussie friends’ parties, with a hit or miss for US events.

Fast forward to adult years—things haven’t improved. Unless you’re going to write the date in full…