The author reflects on what constitutes a "modern" terminal experience, which includes features like multiline support for copy and paste, infinite shell history, and 24-bit color support. They acknowledge that achieving this experience can be difficult due to the many components involved, including the shell, terminal emulator, and text editor. The author's personal approach to achieving a modern terminal experience involves using the fish shell, a terminal emulator with 24-bit color support, and neovim with a custom configuration. For those who don't want to spend a lot of time on configuration, the author suggests using fish or zsh with oh-my-zsh, a terminal emulator with 24-bit color support, and a text editor like micro or helix. However, the author notes that even with these options, getting a modern terminal experience can be challenging due to issues with the shell, text editor, and individual applications. The shell can be particularly problematic, as popular shells like bash and zsh require customization to provide a satisfactory experience. The text editor can also be an issue, with options like vim and emacs requiring significant configuration, while nano provides a limited experience. The author notes that individual applications can also cause problems, and that debugging these issues can be time-consuming. Ultimately, the author concludes that achieving a modern terminal experience requires patience, experimentation, and a willingness to make small changes and adapt to new tools and configurations.