Gen Z logs books and films to try to stop doomscrolling

Fed up with doomscrolling and worried about shrinking attention spans, some Gen Zers are tracking what they read and watch to break the scrolling cycle. Across TikTok, Substack and Instagram, younger users share weekly roundups of books, films, podcasts and long-form articles, often under the banner media I've consumed this week instead of doomscrolling.

Social cataloging apps and guides for physical media journals have also gained traction. Maria Paula Colmenares, a 22-year-old fashion business student, launched a Substack called Instead of Doomscrolling after a summer spent hooked to her phone; the newsletter has more than 448,000 subscribers.

She says it has helped her be more mindful about online consumption and prompted her to write about and remember what she reads. Thomas Webb, a psychology professor, reviewed 138 studies in which participants were asked to track progress toward a goal and found that goals were likelier to be achieved when progress was physically recorded or shared.

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