The information age is still evolving and has big news and data as its main core in various platforms and environments. The challenge of filtering through fake, real, huge and minor news surrounds us all. Either as adults or young people, we may struggle to identify what really matters, and what doesn’t. The magnification of this difficulty is clear when we think particularly of the next generation, growing up in a digital echo-chamber, where exploring information is not only easy but, to a certain degree, enjoyable. The question, which comes as a result of this course of thought is quite obvious: “What is my responsibility to the young minds of the world?” and “How can I contribute to that legacy?” If this question echoes in your mind, too, then becoming a mentor could be the answer.
A mentor can help young people make sense of a chaotic world and turn randomness into purposefulness. Why be a mentor today, and why mentor a generation of digital natives who have unprecedented access to knowledge?
To mentor or not to mentor?
The concept of mentorship has been around since ancient times. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the character Mentor (the goddess Athena transformed) tries to encourage Telemachus to start his journey to discover if rumors about his father are true, and if he is still alive. From an ancient world where mentors guide us to make sense of rumors, we have reached a modern world full of information. A mentor nonetheless proves useful either to encourage a younger person or to guide and support them.
Mentorship can take place physically or virtually, and it has a positive impact on a young person’s life. It can make an individual student more conscious about their choices and can ultimately change and utterly transform a whole classroom of students.
Technology can certainly make it easier to become a mentor and to inspire not just one student, but virtually everyone in a classroom.
Mentoring today is mentoring at 100mentors
100mentors’ mission is the empowerment of young people to take more ownership in their education. At 100mentors we believe the future of mentorship for busy professionals, academics, and thought leaders is making it fast, rewarding, and impactful. This happens through the 100mentors mobile app, which makes it possible to fit mentoring into your tight schedule. How?
1. Mentoring can be fast & simple
If you wish to share your expertise and enjoy answering questions regarding your job, studies, and professional life, you may want to help a young person who would like to follow in your footsteps. In this way, you can guide your younger self by mentoring them. You may be under the impression that it will be time-consuming, or that you won’t see a real impact with just a small time commitment, but this is not the case.
We already connect to social apps an average of 143 minutes a day (Marie Ennis- O’Connor, Medium 2019). What if we spent only 100 seconds of that time – just 1 percent of that time – producing knowledge, rather than passively scrolling and consuming it? Our app challenges you, the mentors who act as content creators, to limit your answers to a 100-second video recording. This means the answers to students’ questions that mentors record are quick, though still substantive, and certainly, an impactful way to spend time on your mobile device.
2. Mentoring can be productive
Mentoring works best when it’s focused on providing relevant insight. That’s why when you download the 100mentors app, the first thing you do is to select your field of expertise. Upon your own availability, you answer the questions you feel more comfortable with, and the ones you wanted an answer to when you were a student. When you select your field of expertise, your feed of questions is curated just for you.
On top of that, if you consider mentoring as an important element of lifelong learning, and if you believe that every person at any phase of their life needs guidance, then you would be excited to discover and view answers of other mentors to the same question. Be inspired by them or use them as a reference in your answers. Inspiration is not only a prerequisite for a younger person to become a professional. We all need inspiration, even when it comes to questions we are confident enough to answer.
3. Mentoring does have an impact
Only 100 seconds of your time may have a real impact on the young generation. Your impact can grow exponentially, and just one answer may reach more than one student. The more you engage with students through our platform, the more you can see your impact growing, while spreading your knowledge and expertise.
Of course, keeping track of your answers’ impact on young minds is crucial for you to realize that your 100 seconds of dedication was meaningful.
Impact, though, is more than what you see on your screen. The impact is what a young person does after listening to you, and in the end, this is what really matters. Your answer may spark a series of unique conversations, decisions, and actions.
Finally, why mentor?
Let’s circle back to the core question, which you may recall, was “why mentor?” Keep the words of Mark Freedman in mind: “The real fountain of youth is the fountain with youth” (Natalie Proulx, New York Times 2019). A legacy is what we all strive for, and a global intellectual legacy is possible through mentoring, especially through the 100mentors mobile app.
Download the 100mentors app today to get started mentoring:
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