Throughout history, time and space maintained a stable and balanced relationship. With the discovery of steam and other sources of inanimate energy, in the 18th and 19th centuries, this picture changes dramatically. Time is accelerated and its acceleration becomes one of the central distinctive features of modern age. In the last decades of the 20th century, there is another radical transformation in the time/space relationship. The new information and telecommunication technologies, the increasingly faster means of transportation and the disappearance of many modern frontiers generate an era of instantaneous communication, virtual spaces and easy circulation of information, people and goods. New space arrangements which subvert the modern ones emerge; space becomes prominent. The present paper examines already published reflections and researches on contemporary spaces. It also offers a theoretical contribution based on the results of an investigation into the use of a host of virtual and physical spaces by young Brazilians.
time; space; modern age; present days