It depends on what type of story and style you want to tell/use.
Explaining technology in the context of the story through a character device whereby one is explaining it to another can be an effective way of inserting the audience into the novel - the reader has a surrogate character. Think of every book, film, or TV series that dumps a protagonist who knows effectively nothing of the larger universe straight into the story, and the rest have to explain things to him. Luke Skywalker in ANH is a great popular sci-fi example.
In other circumstances, you may prefer to leave the workings of the technology or mechanic as something of a slowly revealed mystery, which can drive reader engagement to learn more. This needs to be carefully done to avoid appearing contrived. If you've ever read Patrick Rothfuss (fantasy), "The Name of the Wind" is very good at this.
The third approach is to "just go with it." This is largely the approach taken in sci-fi that is character, rather than era, based. The Expanse series does this, and its an effective way of driving narrative details without getting bogged down in technobabble. It can be a double-edged sword: from film/TV you may be familiar with the expansion of ridiculous technobabble in Star Trek Voyager that drove viewers crazy; conversely, the Star Trek reboot film with the ridiculousness around Spock's race to use the red matter to save Romulus is an example of writers underestimating the audience (anyone familiar with Star Trek at all was going to do a 'wtf' at that).
The best writing takes a bit from a couple approaches to match the style and tone of the story the author wants to tell.