A prominent theme occuring in White Noise is the fear, or mistrust, of technology. Technology is superfluous in the lives of the characters in the town. This mistrust is seen in a variety of different ways and events. One example is the Airborne Toxic Event caused by a train derailment that cause a radioactive chemical called Nyodene Derivative, which is synthesized by scientists. The fact that this chemical caused such a problem shows the fear of new synthetic technology replacing older things, and how technology can potentially go horribly wrong can be catastrophic. All the characters seem to be worried by new technological advances. For example, "That's what worries me... The very idea, the very existence, the wondrous ingenuity. On the one hand I definitely admire it. Just to think there are people out there who can conjure such things. A cloud-eating microbe or whatever. There is just no end of surprise. All the amazement that's left in the world is microscopic. But I can live with that. What scares me is have they thought it through completely? (page 161)" Another example is after Jack Gladney was exposed to radiation from Nyodene D., he must get checked for his levels of radiation. He doesn't understand the machines that are testing him and detect that his death is imminent: "He wants to insert me once more in the imaging block, where charged particles collide, high winds blow. But I am afraid of the imaging block. Afraid of its magnetic fields, its computerized nuclear pulse. Afraid of what it knows about me (page 325)." Jack already has a fear of death, which is the probable cause of his great mistrust of the machines that will reveal to him the rate at which his death is progressing. Another manifestation of this mistrust occurs when Jack discovers the drug Dylar, that's supposed to rid one of their fear of death. Jack becomes fascinated, obsessed, but at the same time scared of the drug's technology and its potential. "The drug could be dangerous, after all. And I was not a believer in easy solutions, something to swallow that would rid my soul of an ancient fear. But I could not help thinking about that saucer-shaped tablet... The drug core dissolving, releasing benevolent chemicals into my bloodstream, flooding the fear-of-death part of my brain. The pill itself silently self-destructing in a tiny inward burst, a polymer implosion, discreet and precise and considerate. Technology with a human face. (page 211)" The drug represents, all together, the fear of death, seeking an easy solution to the fear of death, new technology, and all the problems in Jack and Babette's relationship. It is only natural for Jack to be mistrustful of it.
To add to the title of the book, there are random ads interspersed throughout, which really convey the pervasiveness of technology in the lives of the characters. This adds to the title "White Noise" because there always seems to be background noise going on in the novel.
The phrase and idea of "waves and radiation" is also repeated multiple times throughout the novel. It's first seen in an interaction between Jack and Murray : "Waves and radiation. I've come to understand that the medium is a primal force in the American home. Sealed-off, timeless, self-contained, self-referring. (page 51)" And again, after the Airborne Toxic Event, when Heinrich points out that the radiation from the Nyodene D. is nothing compared to all the radiation around them: "The real issue is the kind of radiation that surrounds us every day. Your radio, your TV, your microwave oven, your powerlines just outside the door, your radar speed-trap on the highway. For years they told us these low doses weren't dangerous. (174)" which shows the growing mistrust of these things for fear that they are potentially as dangerous as the chemical cloud itself.
Technology is detached and detracts from human interaction. This is unsettling to Jack Gladney.
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