When do "modern times" begin for you?

[CorporalCaptain]

I'm still amazed that many things which one might assume are more recent inventions were actually initially developed during World War II or even just before. It really shows what an effort it was, and how the human imagination can soar. If only we didn't need war to spur that much innovation.

 

[MANT!]

In 1966, when I first saw Star Trek on TV...

So...all you punks..

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7X2_V60YK8[/yt]

 

[Lord Garth]

I think the question got misconstrued. I was referring to a more personal impression. In your personal view how far back do you go and still think of things as current? Not from a historical perspective.

Ack. Sorry about that! To me "modern" isn't necessarily the same as "current".

In that case, in terms of every day life, what I have, and what I see outside? 2008 or 2009-ish.

In terms of when I watch something? Maybe 2001 or 2002. Doesn't really matter if the characters have Web 2.0 or what their cellphone options are. CRT computer screens started disappearing. Fashion is backward compatible these days. You couldn't really wear the latest styles now in the early-'00s, but you can still wear styles from back then today; so the styles don't really stand out as different.

 

[Admiral Shran]

In all seriousness, I'd say the end of World War I. The world was a much different place before that conflict and we're still living in the world it created.

 

[Amaris]

Blu-rays are modern to me. Old-style DVDs I am forced to put in the “not modern” bracket since although I still very much use them they have been superseded.

Haven’t you heard? Vinyl is retro-cool!

I love records! I was just checking out my copy of Robert Palmer's Pressure Drop, and a few Queen and Metallica records, and wishing I still had a record player to play them.

 

[scotpens]

In terms of when I watch something? Maybe 2001 or 2002. Doesn't really matter if the characters have Web 2.0 or what their cellphone options are. CRT computer screens started disappearing.

I still have a Hitachi CRT monitor that works just fine. No need to replace it with a flat screen just because it’s newer.

Hell, I thought things were modern when rotary-dial phones started disappearing.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

The late 19th/early 20th centuries. Many of the modern technologies we take for granted today had their genesis or proliferation during this era: the automobile, the airplane, routine trans-oceanic travel, steel-hulled cruise ships, telephones, lightbulbs, the phonograph, x-rays, the assembly line, machine guns, the ballpoint pen, film instead of photographic plates, motion pictures, radio, television, the modern steam turbine, the electrical power grid, and many more.

This is exactly the same timeframe I was going to post, though I was looking specifically at Edison's invention of the lightbulb as the moment the modern age began.

 

[Holdfast]

I think the question got misconstrued. I was referring to a more personal impression. In your personal view how far back do you go and still think of things as current? Not from a historical perspective.

Then I'll go with post WWII.

Yeah, I'd go along with this. It's such an easy and obvious watershed that it's tricky to look past it. Geopolitically, it's a major dividing line although the full import wasn't clear at the time. Economically, too, and socially. Yep, WWII it is.

Within my own lifetime, I can't say there's a particular emotional dividing line between old and new, though since I'm only in my 30s, it would be surprising if there was.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I find this really difficult to answer. The world has changed rapidly in subtle ways over the past decade which isn't really apparent until you watch a film or a tv show that was made ten years ago.

What is "modern" to me? I think maybe post-2006 works for me since that's the year I moved back to Glasgow from Stirling.

 

[Sci]

Historically, I suppose I would consider the 18th Century to be the start of the "Modern Era."

In terms of my personal perception of my lifetime, "modern" to me goes back to the mid-to-late 1990s. Say about 1997 or thereabouts.

 

[Canadave]

The French Revolution. Cause uhh... that's how my uni defines "early modern history".

That's rather different. Most histories I've seen put the early modern period as being from sometime in the 1400s (I like 1453, myself) up until the French Revolution.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Funny, but about ten years ago, I would have considered the start of the industrial age (late 18th-Century) as the beginning of the modern era. These days, I'm leaning more towards the start of the space age (specifically 1957 with the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1).

 

[Kail]

March 1978.

Anything before that is BM. Before Me.

My thoughts exactly, but was thinking more along the lines of July, 1960.

 

[Captain Ice]

Modern: This begins with the development of the transcontinental railroad.

Current: Anything after Reagan was shot.

 

[M'Sharak]

The late 19th/early 20th centuries. Many of the modern technologies we take for granted today had their genesis or proliferation during this era: the automobile, the airplane, routine trans-oceanic travel, steel-hulled cruise ships, telephones, lightbulbs, the phonograph, x-rays, the assembly line, machine guns, the ballpoint pen, film instead of photographic plates, motion pictures, radio, television, the modern steam turbine, the electrical power grid, and many more.

This is very much like what I'd have written, so I'll just nod and agree.

I think the question got misconstrued. I was referring to a more personal impression. In your personal view how far back do you go and still think of things as current? Not from a historical perspective.

As others have said, personal and historical perspective tend to get intertwined, if one has even a general picture of what developments came when. Staying within my own personal timeframe, I guess I'd have to say "modern times" began in the early 1960s, since that's when I started becoming aware of all this. Looking at it another way, "modern times" is sort of a process; it's always happening and always has been - whenever "now" is.

If, however, you ask me to draw a line indicating when I think "modern times" begin, I'll draw it right about at 1894.

To many of the current generation anything older than six months is ancient history.

No matter where one draws the line, this sort of thing never seems to rise above simple peevishness.

 

[Kelso]

Modern Times, for me, begins when Charlie Chaplin appears on screen.

FTW.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Modern Times, for me, begins when Charlie Chaplin appears on screen.

FTW.

Can't really top that, I might say before my dad was born, which was about 1905. Otherwise, modern times might be thought of like Italian driving.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjGXn249Fc0&feature=related[/yt]

 

[TedShatner10]

^That's great! but what's your view on the topic?

I personally think the contemporary world as we know it got properly rolling since 1967-69 and most things since then have been an enhancement or refinement.

 

[Warped9]

The late 19th/early 20th centuries. Many of the modern technologies we take for granted today had their genesis or proliferation during this era: the automobile, the airplane, routine trans-oceanic travel, steel-hulled cruise ships, telephones, lightbulbs, the phonograph, x-rays, the assembly line, machine guns, the ballpoint pen, film instead of photographic plates, motion pictures, radio, television, the modern steam turbine, the electrical power grid, and many more.

Agreed. Pretty much how I interpret it.

Hell, I thought things were modern when rotary-dial phones started disappearing.

I remember that! It did feel like we were really stepping into a new age.