Are we not living in the modern era anymore?

[brewer]

@brewer the only thing i can think of for why it matters to me is, well I don't want to be behind on the times or live/be stuck in the past as they say. I want to ketch up and get with the times.

I'm not quite sure where you 'live'.  Behind the times varies with where you live, 'catch up' is relative. Hang out in a third world country for a couple of years then come back and reconsider 'modern era', it's all relative.

[Belacqua]

@Belacqua for the characteristics of the modern age I would say the invention of computers as well as with machines that have computers in them with AI programs plus the invention of the internet. Also after world war 2 ended setting up the united nations, cold war, sending humans to the moon for the first time and being in space plus the human genome project. Lastly, a educational revolution that started in the 1970s were many people or the masses for the first time went to colleges and/or university's that changed the world or had a big impact on it although I don't know how true or accurate that is. I based that on a old historical movie I saw over 5 years ago about that very subject

You can certainly define "modern" that way if you want to. It's one of those words with no clear set of boundaries, so the period it refers to can vary quite a bit. 

I agree with you that the changes you mention -- computers, political changes after WWII, greater university enrollment -- are significant changes from what came before. Whether that constitutes "modernity" or not is a judgment call.

I suspect that any time we use the word "modern" in a careful way, we have to begin by defining what we mean by it exactly.

[Belacqua]

Isn’t the word “modern” synonymous with the word “contemporary”? If that’s the case, then we are always in the modern era, and we would need to come up with a historical name for the era that ended at the turn of the millennium.

This can get confusing, depending on the field you're talking about. 

As you know, "contemporary" means "at the same time as," so we can say that Leonardo was contemporary with Michelangelo. (I understand that's not the sense you're using it here.) 

In the arts, "modern" generally refers to around the first half of the 20th century, with no clear end point. Though you might point to Andy Warhol or somebody who was at the end of the modern era, or even as putting an end to it. "Modern Art" tends to have a fairly clear set of goals and theories behind it, which are no longer so popular. If you go to a Museum of Modern Art it will have works by a lot of dead people -- Picasso, Kandinsky, etc. A Museum of Contemporary Art will have mostly works by living people. Although as time goes on a lot of those are dead, too, which makes it confusing. Keith Haring, for example, is probably Contemporary, though he died decades ago.

As time goes by, anachronistic words stick. The Pont Neuf -- "New Bridge" -- in Paris is the oldest bridge. Art Nouveau -- "New Art" -- is now old.

It's just as confusing in Japanese, where 現代 (present age) is different from 近代 (near age). Picasso is present age while Banksy is near age. If I were the Emperor of Language, I would start this over from scratch.