The Screen-Smart Family: Reclaim Family Connection Without the Daily Screen Battles

Mary Elkins is a parent educator, family wellness coach, and writer who has spent more than fifteen years helping families find their footing in a digital-first world. She holds a master's degree in family and human development and has worked as a counselor in elementary and middle schools, where she watched the daily dramas of devices, attention, and friendship play out in real time.

She is the founder of the Screen-Smart Parent workshop series, a hands-on program delivered in schools, libraries, and community centers across the country that has guided thousands of families through building media plans that actually stick. Her essays and advice columns on parenting and technology have appeared in national parenting publications, and her approach is shaped by the conviction that parents don't need stricter rules so much as clearer values and better conversations.

Mary lives with her husband and three children—who range from elementary school to high school—in Portland, Oregon, where the family phone basket is a permanent fixture on the kitchen table. She is a reluctant but improving hiker, a devoted game-night strategist, and a firm believer that the best conversations happen after the screens go dark. *The Screen-Smart Family* is her first book.