When I read about the new iPhone app that tracks the swine flu, I thought it was a joke. But it’s not. The free app was developed by Childrens Hospital Boston and the MIT Media Lab. Reports are sourced from both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 Users can track and report outbreaks, be notified of new outbreaks and get alerted when sick people enter the area. It also tracks other infectious diseases so you can better avoid contact with sick people overall.

 Is there a benefit to having all this information? People already are in panic-mode, despite the fact more people die form the regular flu than swine, and are statistically more likely to keel over from a heart attack than anything else.

 But hypocondriacs will no doubt quietly rejoice, as might parents who worry about small children running through germ-filled playgrounds.

 I certainly don’t want to know, because my mind already works overtime worrying about things I can’t control. Do I want the responsibility of reporting and tracking the swine flu? Hell no.

 There is such as thing as too much information, and I don’t mean the kind that gets over-shared at the lunch table. There’s too much information, period. And that’s something I never thought I’d feel. In fact, bring on the lunch room chatter! Real people talking about real moments in real time; it’s starting to feel rather novel.

 Though I’m grateful to be living in the information age and was never one to long for the good old days of simpler times, I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. I’ve embraced every new technology as it emerged. News on my cell phone? Had it for years. Chat rooms, message board, AIM, MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter … jumped in immediately.

 But suddenly, I have a yearning for a little quiet from all the cyber-chat, a little peace from the noise. Everyone has something to report, a tidbit to share, a link to a news article, a tip from a blog. Little blue hyperlinks visit my dreams and I wake up to the overnight news from Afghanistan and natural disasters in Indonesia. My Twitter friends report political info and breaking news, and FaceBook pals intermingle kiddie tales with helpful magazine articles. We’ve all become aggregators and disseminators.

 I can’t imagine it any other way and I’m certainly not advocating that we all pipe down. I’m just trying to figure out a way to find balance. I used to Tweet, blog and FaceBook in some manner and combination everyday. It used to be I’d never start the day without checking in, if not to say anything, then at least to see what everyone else was up to. Now I’m forcing myself to hang back a bit, leave the cell phone behind and unplug from the world.

 Sometimes, it’s better not to know anything, not to share, not to care, and just be. It’s Ok to read a book and just enjoy it. Not because I’m going to blog my analysis, or Tweet my recommendation. Just because.

 It’s hard to find quiet, to revel in nothingness when there’s so much going on all the time. But I’m finding that a little life, unplugged is much more valuable to my health than knowing where the latest swine flu case cropped up.