A touch screen is a display that responds directly to your touch, letting you interact with a device by tapping, swiping, or pinching the screen itself instead of using a mouse or keyboard. When you tap an app icon on a tablet or drag your finger across a phone to scroll through photos, you're using a touch screen.

Touch screens work through different technologies, but most use electrical signals to detect exactly where your finger makes contact. The device then responds instantly by opening apps, letting you type on a virtual keyboard, or playing games. Some touch screens can even detect multiple fingers at once, which is how you can pinch two fingers together to zoom in on a map or spread them apart to zoom out.

Though touch screens feel modern, engineers invented them in the 1960s. They became common in ATMs and airport check-in kiosks before smartphones made them part of everyday life. Today, touch screens appear everywhere: in cars, at restaurant ordering stations, on smartwatches, and in classrooms with interactive whiteboards.

The technology changed how people use computers. Instead of remembering keyboard commands or navigating with a mouse, you can simply touch what you want. This directness can make touch screens especially helpful for people who find traditional computer interfaces confusing.