The main theme of the book is the effect that technology has on culture. While Postman focuses on the harmful effects, he emphasizes that no technology is all good or all bad. He begins Chapter 1 with a story about King Thamus, from Plato’s Phaedrus. The king focused on all the negative aspects of technology, but Postman is clear in stating that “Thamus’ error is in his believing that writing will be a burden to society and nothing but a burden” (4). Instead, he writes, “[e]very technology is both a burden and a blessing” (4).

That said, Postman does want readers to view technology with a healthy skepticism. The mistake that society makes is in accepting technology wholeheartedly while not examining its pros and cons carefully enough. New technologies, he writes, fundamentally change cultures in ways that cannot be predicted. Their effect is ecological, not additive, and they create winners and losers in society. This is why it is so important to view them critically and ask about them What are we getting? and What are we giving up? One example offered is that of the mechanical clock, which in Europe was devised by monks to help regulate the schedule of monasteries.