Technology is the current state of human knowledge about how to combine resources to produce desired products, solve problems, meet needs, or satisfy wants. It includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, and tools, as well as raw materials. It also includes the social and cultural aspects involved in using these technologies.
Most technological innovations spread or disappear on the basis of free-market forces and largely on the basis of people’s responses to them. Occasionally, however, some technologies become controversial enough to attract public attention and possibly formal regulation. Examples of such technologies include contour plowing, vaccines, genetic engineering, and nuclear power plants.
When a particular type of technology takes hold, it typically prioritizes some paths of behavior and neglects others. This happens because the technology is designed to efficiently route people’s finite energy and attention. The resulting path of behavior isn’t always better or worse, but it does tend to crowd out other pathways that aren’t as efficient.
For example, as TVs became more common, they shifted the way people spent their leisure time, reducing the amount of face-to-face interaction. Similarly, digital cameras and photo-sharing websites have deprioritized the use of analogue film cameras and darkrooms as the pathway to photographs.
The other benefit is that students can access a wide variety of learning materials on the internet. This includes scientific articles, journals, research papers, educational videos, tutorials/guidebooks, informational websites and blogs of educators/authors. This helps them to fulfill their heightened curiosity on any subject or topic by providing valuable information that enhances the quality of their research.