To reduce your stress, try scheduling a little time out from technology.

An alert sounds on your computer: There’s a new e-mail in your in box. Do you stop everything to read the incoming message—or do you ignore it?

You might think responding to every ring of the phone and e-mail or text message as it arrives will make you more efficient. But when you do this day in, day out, the reverse is often true. That’s because:

• Every time a message diverts you from high-priority work, you lose focused concentration and your productivity may suffer as a result.
• When you respond to every ring and beep, you’re placing items of unknown urgency at the very top of your to-do list.
• If your respond-on-demand habit continues beyond work hours, precious time is diverted from other activities that could lend a dimension of richness and meaning to your personal life. Think of the message it sends to your children, partner, or friends when you interrupt every conversation to answer your cell phone, or when you stay glued to your computer screen all weekend.

It’s not that you should give up technology—your job may depend on quick response to immediate needs. However, if you schedule your tech time wisely, you may be surprised to learn how smoothly the world keeps turning even when you’re offline.

Here are suggestions to ensure that technology supports, rather than sabotages, your work and home life.

• Turn off the technology now and then. Disconnect from your e-mail program. Leave your BlackBerry behind.
• Resist the compulsion to check in. Realize that constantly checking your e-mail, phone messages, Facebook site, or favorite blog is often only that—a compulsion. Become familiar, and even comfortable, with being out of touch now and then.
• Consider forwarding all phone calls to a single device, if you have more than one, so you’ll need to check only one set of messages.
• Choose the times when you’ll pick up messages. Some people check their e-mail only twice a day: at the middle and end of the workday. Some hold off checking voice mail or e-mail until they’ve completed a certain phase of a project. Some are able to make e-mail completely off limits on weekends or in the mornings when their daily priorities come first.
• Let people know your new schedule. Explain that you no longer check your e-mail on weekends, for example. Give colleagues your phone number in case they have a truly urgent message.
• Answer everything en masse. Set aside a quiet time dedicated to voice mail and e-mail. Don’t worry about the buildup of messages— you would have taken the time to review and respond anyway, but now your time will be more productive because important projects won’t be interrupted. What’s more, during the gap between their sending and your receiving, some problems may sort themselves out.
• Schedule vacation time. Getting away from the demands of staying in touch 24/7 can be healthy for the body, mind, and spirit.

  To do so, set up an out-of-office response to incoming e-mail while on vacation, and ask someone at work to cover your bases and call you only for emergencies.

Having this extra space allows you to think, reflect, gain fresh perspectives, and be creative. You may be surprised at what arises—not from a bell or a beep, but from the peace and quiet.

By Polly Turner, a feature writer for Vitality.

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