The internet has introduced an unusual aspect to mentorship.
Typically, mentors have been thought of as the graybeards of a profession or a skill set.
They have become mentors by being the pioneers who learned by trial and error or by long years of study and practice.
Throughout history, mentors have usually been the elders, or at least people of middle age, of a tribe or a group.
That still holds true for the majority of life's skills and experiences.
But, when the internet came along, things began to change dramatically and quickly.
The internet was introduced to the world after computers had become fairly commonplace.
It was also becoming obvious to many that the real power of the computer and the digital age would come, not when the middle aged and elders became computer proficient, but when the young people who were growing up with computers began taking over the jobs in industry, education and the sciences.
Those young people, many not old enough to shave or vote, were already comfortable with computers and knew how to use them to do a lot of things that adults could only marveled at.
It only got better from there.
As social media became the internet rage, the kids became the experts at doing all the really neat things.
Those youngsters, many barely out of grade school, quickly became the ones to turn to for help getting up-to-speed with this exciting but confusing new phenomenon.
And so it goes.
If you are middle-aged or older and in need of mentoring to become computer proficient, just look to the real experienced mentors.
You know.
The ones who can still count their age on their fingers.
They already know more than you ever will, for the most part.
We will have to come up with another name for them, however.
Graybeard certainly doesn't fit anymore since most of them don't even shave yet.