Get Off Your Phone

This Children's book introduces the cute and cuddly animals living in the quiet and tranquil Gum Town. It explores the impact of mobile phone habits on parent-child relationships by using fun cheeky examples. This book will allow parents to laugh at themselves and hopefully raise awareness of their habits and the impacts they are having on those around them. Reading this to our kids also empowers our children to perhaps call us out and approach the issue with a measured gentle approach. This book is not a lecture. It aims to explore phone habits in a fun and humorous way to raise awareness and open conversations.

First time author, Dan Finlayson wrote this book as a hobby and self reflection exploring how his phone use was impacting his family. He works as a Doctor in a busy Emergency Department in Australia and often finds himself withdrawing into the world of social media, online news and other mindless activities on his mobile phone. While recognising the benefits of digital devices for a multitude of purposes, he was increasingly becoming aware of his excess use (mostly by being told by his friends and family), and the impact it was having on his relationships with his girls.

The intention was never to publish however the more people he spoke to, the more push he got to put this book out to the world. Hopefully by reading this book with your kids it empowers both the parent and the child to reduce phone use and improve quality time with our families. Or... it could be used to send a subtle message to your partner, or family member who you have noticed uses their phone just that little bit too much!