Recently, you might have heard Jean lamenting about how technology-tethered she feels. On air, she resolved to try to cool it with her cell phone and PDA—to not check e-mail too often, to use her hands-free kit in the car…even to turn her phone off.

Jean calls on Dr. Edward Hallowell, author of CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap!, for a lesson on how to be more productive and less crazed. Dr. Hallowell says that we, as a society, need to take back control from technology. Here's how:

• Experiment. Go without your PDA for two whole weeks. By the end, you may find that you are getting more done and thinking more clearly.
• Ask yourself where you want to invest your time. Invest in technology so that it is serving you, not the other way around.
• Go face-to-face whenever possible. In an e-mail or phone call, you lose the ability to detect trust and good will in people, Dr. Hallowell says.
• Know that if you aren't getting done what matters to you or you aren't enjoying doing it, then it might be time for a change.
• Get rid of what Dr. Hallowell calls "your leeches." These are the projects or people who are dragging you down. Replace them with a feel-good activity, like reading or exercising.