I MET someone today who has never felt the need to get a home computer and has not even touched an iPhone, iPad or i-anything for that matter.

When I first heard her plight I thought to myself ‘poor girl, she surely must have spent the last 10 years in a coma or something’.

Grasping my iPhone in my hand, determined to show her the world she’d been missing, I was shocked to discover her lack of ‘techno know-how’ has nothing to do with a tragic medical condition, but is in fact by choice.

Torn between that panicky feeling you get when faced with trying to make conversation with someone you have nothing in common with and sheer curiosity, of course the curiosity won out and I embarked upon a debate with ‘coma-or-something girl’ as she’s forever known, about how these modern technological marvels actually can enhance your life.

Round one went to me when I described how my family members and I can communicate for free at any time of day via the internet.

Round two went to ‘coma-or-something girl’ when she pulled out stats linking computers to overweight children.

For round three I told the heart-warming story of how last week Facebook had enabled me to thank my favourite teacher for playing a huge part in influencing who I am today.

Round four ‘coma-or-something’ stole with stories of face to face conversation and healthy outdoor activities.

“Pffffft” I said to myself.

Clearly she was leaving me no choice… It was time to pull out the big gun, s ee if I could make her crumble with my brand new ‘why modern technology is so great’ story.

If you know someone who was at the New Theatre on Sunday night for the Crowded House concert, I’m willing to bet you’ve already heard this story. If you haven’t, read on.

About half way through the concert, lead singer Neil Finn glanced to the side of the stage and mentioned his dad was watching.

At that point I’d guess most people in the audience thought how nice it was that his dad was in the wings.

Then the bass player wandered offstage, and reappeared carrying a laptop on which we could see the image of an old man.

Neil’s dad was actually sitting at his home in New Zealand watching the entire concert via webcam at the breakfast table.

Some banter between audience and dad ensued before the laptop was popped in the middle of the stage to give dad a ‘better view of the gig’.

There’s no denying it was cute and the band are clearly very good at working an audience, but as someone whose family lives over 10,000 miles away, I find technological developments like this are a blessing to help keep in touch with family.

Although if it was me, I’d probably warn my mum I was going to put her on stage in front of 2,000 people first, so she could change out of her old dressing gown and into something a bit more showbiz.