// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
The millennials swapping doom-scrolling for gardening
When Hannah Matthews lost her father and grandmother in the space of a year, she found comfort in her back garden.
"My mind would be really busy, and I'd suddenly be out here at 7am pulling up weeds," said the 31-year-old.
She is now an enthusiastic gardener, and one of thousands of young people sharing their green-fingered ways on social media.
Hannah, who has more than 70,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, said the gardening community was "booming" and represented a way of "recapturing some space that feels less tense" on social media platforms.
"It brings me joy, and hopefully when someone else is just kind of doom-scrolling, they get a bit of serenity in their day as well," she said.
"I was born in '95, so my generation are the kind of ones who know what it's like to grow up with both analogue life and digital culture," said Hannah, from Newport.
She said hobbies such as cooking, sewing and gardening were her generation's "rejection of this hyper-digital world that feels really all-consuming".
She said it was a "tough time for young people" due to the cost of living, climate change, a "dire" jobs market and AI.
"I'm not saying we've had it harder than all other generations," she said.
"But it is challenging being young and maybe having different expectations to those that our parents and grandparents' generations had, and different opportunities."