2012, an year so much on our nerves these days that we plan everything till that year these days. It has become our habit in daily conversations to mention something like "Forget it.Just enjoy life. We are having only 3 years now on this planet earth" :-$

C'mon guys, whats wrong with you anyway? Thanks to internet, we are used to such hoaxes and threats. You must be wondering, why would a technology news blog would review something like this one. Well folks, its the advancement of technology that made this freaking statement a world popular hoax. And its the advancement of technology today that is proving it wrong too. We are here to honor the technological advancement anyway.

Lets see first that what is 2012 phenomenon? According to wikipedia definition,

The 2012 phenomenon is a range of beliefs and proposals positing that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur in the year 2012. The forecast is based primarily on what is claimed to be the end-date of the Mayan Long Count calendar,which is presented as lasting 5,125 years and as terminating on December 21 or 23, 2012. Arguments supporting this dating are drawn from a mixture of amateur archaeoastronomy, alternative interpretations of mythology, numerological constructions, and alleged prophecies from extraterrestrial beings.

A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that, during this time, the
planet and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual
transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era. Conversely, some believe that the 2012 date marks the beginning of an apocalypse

Proving this phenomenon a hoax, NASA has actually came up with some answers from the people who monitor the happenings on the planet earth. David Morrison, NASA Senior Scientist, gave us the brief look into the answers to the popular questions that people asked like this one

Why does the Mayan calendar say the world will end in 2012? I have heard that they have been pretty accurate in the past with other planetary predictions. How can you be sure you know more than they did?

Calendars exist for keeping track of the passage of time, not for predicting the future. The Mayan astronomers were clever, and they developed a very complex calendar. Ancient calendars are interesting to historians, but of they cannot match the ability we have today to keep track of time, or the precision of the calendars currently in use. The main point, however, is that calendars, whether contemporary or ancient, cannot predict the future of our planet or warn of things to happen on a specific date such as 2012.

I note that my desk calendar ends much sooner, on December 31 2009, but I do not interpret this as a prediction of Armageddon. It is just the beginning of a new year.

David Morrison explained the hoax something like this..

You can find more of the answers from NASA right here