This paper presents a model to describe technological literacy as enacted by individuals in the course of shaping their lives and the world around them. The model has two interrelated facets--the "potential" for and "enactment" of technological literacy--where enactment and potential mutually constitute each other. This "potential" is made up of knowledge of a particular situation, personal engagement with a situation, and social engagement in the world. "Enactment" requires a particular set of competencies in action, which together helps shape the situation: recognizing needs; articulating problems; contributing towards the technological process; and analysing consequences. The implications of this model for technological literacy in the context of the individual and society, and the role of technology education in developing technological literacy, are discussed. (Contains 1 figure.)