Reflective Essay about Modern

Over the course of the last few weeks, my understanding of what modern means to me and how our learning of history relates to the definition of modern has enhanced. Modern to me means “relating to the present as opposed to the past”. This definition means that modern relates to something that is happening currently or something that was recently invented, for example, the modern iPhone. This definition of modern compares the present to the past and what has changed, and become more modern. In the course of our History class, we have learned many examples of what modern means. The textbook has provided us with many examples that show modernity in different ways and how the different courses of history have been changed by the modern events that took place during that period. The examples provided in the textbook that shows modernity include technology, artwork, political ideas, and economic developments. My definition of modern shows my understanding of what modern means because it relates the present to the past and also explains what has changed to lead up to what has become more modern. 

When thinking of the word modern many things may come to mind. One of the most popular thoughts of modern is technology. Technology is constantly changing and becoming more advanced and modern every day. In the textbook, modern technology was shown as being extremely useful. The renaissance was a time when many modern inventions and modern ideas started to come into people’s daily lives and creativity was at an all-time high. These advancements were completely different from what was going on before. Many new forms of technology emerged during this time and some technological advancements took place that just modernized the current technology. Some examples of modern technology include the printing press (the machine that allowed people to print text or pictures from a type or a plate), the telescope (an invention that allowed people to look into space through lenses), the blast furnace (a furnace that looked like a tower that blew blasts of hot compressed air into a space) the last example is, woodblock printing (a piece of wood that had an image carved into it and would have ink poured into it and then pressed onto a piece of paper). Some examples of technology that already existed but became more modernized include, mining advancements, iron advancements, and modern forge advancements. Technology keeps becoming more modernized every day and is always changing. Another example of modernity is the development of economics. The advancement of economics was based on natural thinking and the belief in natural resources. As economics advanced more people started rejecting mercantilism and required more government regulation. The people allowed the government little or no control over their personal lives and barely any control over their businesses. Free trade was supported and tariffs were opposed. In the textbook, the development of economics is portrayed as being a very important advancement for people. This advancement gave people rights to keep the government out of their lives and they could finally make their own choices on what they wanted to do, instead of the government deciding for them. Some examples of economic developments include the free enterprise system, profit with no government interference, government protection, natural laws, and natural thinking. Economic development continues to develop today.

When still thinking about the word modern, artwork and political ideas may come to mind. That is because artwork trends and ideas are constantly becoming more modernized and political ideas and beliefs are always becoming more modernized based on what is currently happening in our modern world. The techniques that artists use change based on the trends and also change based on what is popular or modern during that time period. Political ideas also change based on what is modern by the current world issues that need addressing. Modern political ideas stem from modern things that people believe or modern changes that politicians believe should be enforced. The textbook shows us many examples of modern artwork advancements. These examples include, perspective in artwork, three-dimensional viewpoint, focus on human beauty, paintings of nature, and artworks showing emotion and human life. These examples show how drastically the viewpoints of artwork and even the changes that modern society had on art. Before these ideas, art was still being made but it was a lot more bland. The art did not contain as much color, soul, and creativity that it did after art started to change modernly. The textbook also showed us many examples of changes within modern political ideas. These examples include power, the influence of the public, expansion of territories, funding of armed forces, reducing government influence on the people, and, reducing the impact that religion had on people’s daily lives. These examples show the influence that the modern world had on even political views and political policies. The government enforced more people power and less government control. The government also started to focus on expanding their territories and funding their armies, more than worrying about what people were doing. Modernizing art and political ideas impacted the world continuously.

In light of this information, we can conclude that modern means “new or different from the past”. The important examples of modernity that the textbook supports of technology, the renaissance age, artwork, political ideas, money advancements, and ocean travel all support my definition and understanding of modernity. All of these examples have become better, if not completely different from what they originally were. Modern can mean many different things but it is most simply understood as being completely new or very different from the past. For this reason and these examples provided by the textbook I was able to better understand what modern meant and how I can relate what modern means to me with my understanding in History class.