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When those of my generation were growing up, Bermuda households were highly protected environments in which to raise children.

Inside our homes, all ­members of the family, children especially, were shielded from harmful contact with the outside world.

For anyone to be invited inside, they had to be known to our parents and trusted.

And once inside they were ­restricted to the living room or, on occasion, to the dining room or kitchen.

Their behaviour had to be ­exemplary or they would not be invited in again.

I recall even good friends being turned away because we were ­sitting down at a mealtime or ­engaging in some important ­family activity.

We were cautioned against ­talking to strangers and there were few enough cars on the roads that it was difficult to be ­secretive about whose car had whose child in it.

And only disreputable girls would accept a car ride from anyone but a relative.

We lived very sheltered lives.

In the early days of the telephone, only the adults would answer the thing when it rang.

Mischief

My mother monitored my phone conversations on the ­single, stationary phone unit in our house.

It was impossible for me to plot any mischief over the phone.

Rightly or wrongly, parents had much more control over their children's exposure to the people and events outside the home, ­particularly those that might cause trouble. Then came ­television and, ­instantaneously, all sorts of ­people engaged in all sorts of events broached the guardians at the door.

Through television, the sordid relationships of the soap operas, news events of the most brutal or decadent human behaviour and cartoons using violence or other titillation were brought into our living rooms and bedrooms.

People whose only motive was to sell a product were now ­coaching our children.

They were either unaware or uncaring of the intrusion they were making into previously ­sheltered lives of a community's families.

Still, conscientious parents could monitor and filter out the worst of TV broadcasts and have some inkling of who their ­children were conversing with over the phone.

The cellphone has broken through the last limits of family security and privacy.

Through text messaging, ­cellphone users of every age can communicate with any known or even unknown characters in ­secret, no matter where they are or who is nearby.

That doesn't mean the technology itself is a bad thing.

Cellphones enable us to make contact in emergencies, to locate each other in crowds or across distances, to make "better" use of our time.

Photographs

Cellphones are more than fully featured telephones. They are miniature computers for storing and playing music, speeches and books or to locate a small boat on a vast ocean or a suitable restaurant or hotel in a strange city.

You can take photographs or video and transmit either to ­almost anywhere in the world.

The technology is already ­extraordinary and growing daily in scope.

And that is the crux of the ­problem - the uses for the ­technology are growing faster than our ability to govern them.

Whether it's games that coach our children to plot and relish "killing" and other violence, YouTube-style videos with ­unsavoury or explicit content or text message contact with ­villains, cellphones can launch our children beyond innocence and out of reach of our protective skills and places.

The evils of the world are no longer outside the door, they are to hand with every cellphone user.

The Amish people have tried to maintain simplicity in their lives by eschewing modern technology.

But it works only partially for them and it won't work at all for us.

Parents and other guardians need greater vigilance and more creative skills if they are to ­prevent their children from being preyed upon via cellphones by creepy friends or strangers.[[In-content Ad]]

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