As the world entered the 21st century, a number of newspapers and economic journals ran feature articles with grand forecasts for the new age.
Occupying by far the most space in these publications were stories on the information revolution and socioeconomic change.
Due partly to their nature as New Year's features, many of the articles presented optimistic views of the future, describing how life will rapidly increase in convenience as home appliances link to the Internet, and how industry will benefit from the lucrative opportunities presented by the rapid growth of electronic commerce over the next five years.