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In the book [CODE: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Softwar](https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw...), Charles Petzold talks about how it's foundational to the eventual invention of the computer.
Back then, it also meant coast to coast communications were almost instantaneous. And soon after, transatlantic cable-enabled telegraph boosted commerce between America and Europe.
If we were thrown to the Earth 10000 years ago, we would be able to bootstrap our current tech in less than a century?
Maybe not "most important", but a few dollars worth of post-it notes can turn any wall into a "business application" that can potentially cost thousands to turn into code.
Aluminum beverage cans are an engineering marvel: https://youtu.be/hUhisi2FBuw
Fun fact -- 15,000+ aluminum cans are manufactured every second. Every. Second. Really hope Bill keeps putting out videos, but I understand how life gets and it's not his full time job.
Standardized shipping containers massively decreased the cost of global commerce which is perhaps the most important force in the modern world.
I'm not sure "you can pretty much build it yourself", either. The actual process is pretty involved [1]. Even if each step is simple, it's a lot of work, and building a large 3D object to precise specifications is not easy.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7l6AQN1KV0
On that note, though, I submit arc welding as a simple modern invention of great importance. Living in a city, it's rare that I'm not within 2 steps of some object that was joined with arc welding. The basic structure of an arc welder is really simple: an electric current, a wire feeder, and some way (like a noble gas) to protect it.
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Your head
Plastic. We're now drowning in a new problem, but plastic and its impact on sanitation (particularly medical sanitation, like disposable needles, which then supports vaccinations) has dramatically improved life quality and length. Losing a child to disease before the age of five is no longer a universal human experience, portrayed in the Robert Frost poem below. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53086/home-buria…