Abstract: Man has always been interested in his future, looking for his roots in present day, modernity - the only time in which he could act, change the world and his fate. The Age of Enlightenment initiated the creation of the concepts of "modernity" that determine the state and mission of the society existing in it in the history of mankind. Subsequently, the content of the concept began to expand, acquiring new meanings. However, at whatever angle of view the notion of "modernity" is considered, it has always been used to assess reality and determine the potentials for the development of society (in the case of postmodernism, their absence). The present work is devoted to the study of existing ideas about the concept of "modernity", as well as the characteristics of "our" modernity. In the course of the research of the problem of the present, the evolution of the concept development, the change of its semantic properties is analyzed. Accordingly, the main methods of scientific knowledge used in the article are comparative-historical, specifically sociological, formal-logical. In conclusion, the basic tendencies of understanding of "modernity" are defined, among which there are concepts unacceptable for the development of personality of the society. The work also highlights the most significant, in the author's opinion, global problems and achievements that exist today. The author makes a conclusion about the complexity and interconnectedness of various phenomena and processes of the present and calls for a conscious choice of the future of mankind on the basis of analysis (and not escape from) reality.