Post Class Blog: The Maelstrom of Modern Life

Berman calls "modernity" a body of vital experience that that is shared by men and women all around the world. These "modern environments and experiences cut across all boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, [and] of religion and ideology" (Berman 1982, 15). We all live in the same world, and these experiences seem to unite us as a whole. However, since we are all individuals, with our own upbringings, outlooks, beliefs, challenges, etc., our vital experiences actually seem to make us more divided. Living this modern world can be chaotic and stressful. Berman describes it as a maelstrom: a place with so much going on at once that it is easy to feel simultaneously excited, yet scared, yet strangely at home. With constant advances in the physical sciences, medicine, industry, technology, and communication, the world is constantly seeing changes in urban growth, social movements, and new human environments. Today, with the efficient modes of travel and technologies like the internet connecting the world, the world almost seems to be getting smaller and more chaotic.

There will always be those trying to fight modernization, and to go back to the ways things used to be in "the good ole days." Many of us can look back to times in our life, when things just seemed like they were more simple. In the days before cell phones and texting, people would not rely so heavily on technology to get them through the day. Some argue that the new generations are not learning proper social skills because they are constantly behind a screen rather than communicating face to face. Older generations have even expressed concern that modern technology is turning us into a zombie-like society, one that is obsessed and cannot live without the television, videogames, the internet, and cell phones. However, not many can deny the benefits of modernity. There will always be those who try to stray from the modern, "yet all find themselves remarkably at home in it, alive to its possibilities" (Berman 19).