Technology is a broad term that encompasses many different areas of study and research. It includes science, mathematics, engineering, computers, and other fields. It also covers how technology relates to the human world.
When people talk about ‘technology’ they are usually discussing the way that human beings use technology to make their lives better or easier. Technology is an ongoing attempt to bring the world closer to how one wishes it could be. It may involve calculating the efficiency of different means to that end, but it often involves deliberating about what counts as a ‘good’ outcome in the first place.
The modern concept of technology originated in Germany, where it was a part of the engineering tradition that began with Gottfried Leibniz and included Wilhelm von Humboldt, Friedrich Engels, and Max Weber. It was largely developed in the late 19th century, and was widely discussed in the United States by the 1950s. That decade saw the creation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a name that was probably inspired by the German word technology (Gerätetechnik).
A key aspect of technology is that it involves prioritizing certain paths to an end while neglecting others. For example, when digital cameras became available in the 1900s, they displaced analog photography, and with it the inefficient but gratifying culture of physically retouching photographs for hours. This is not necessarily a bad thing. But it is important to keep in mind that a technology’s implicit endorsement of its own route and ends may be harmful for some individuals.