Long-form content is media that is over 700 words or fifteen minutes. Its length makes it more retainable and therefore more valuable than short-form media.

After finding out that short-form content like TikTok was actively chipping away at my attention span I felt the need to find alternatives. 

In my search for less mind-numbing media, I hit roadblocks because compelling content that isn’t less than 30 seconds long is elusive. To combat this I have curated a list of content recommendations for you to kickstart your short-form content journey.

Student Recommendations:

Soraya Johnson:

Podcasts- The Ezra Klein Show, The American Life

Books- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende 

Charlie van der Veen: 

Movies- Fight Club, Zoolander 

Shows-Severance “It’s about a company who severs its high-level employees. They basically make a separate part of their consciousness that has no memories of their personal life. When they go to work they only have memories of work and when they leave they only have memories from outside of work,” van der Veen said.

Books- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Educated by Tara Westover

Anushka Kalyan:

Books- The Story of Layla & Majnun by Nizami, Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Movie- Song of the Sea

Arman Mokleski: 

Book- The Will of The Many by James Islington “It’s basically a book about this society which uses its bottom level members to support and make the upper-level members richer,” Mokleski said. 

Kimberly Song: 

Movie- Dune 2 “My favorite type of long-form media are movies because you can tell stories in many unique ways,” Song said.

Siahmo Newsom: 

News- NPR, Vox, Dear Asian Youth

Podcasts- Get Real, Today Explained by Vox, NPR

Books- A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

Movies- Good Will Hunting, Moonlight

TV Shows- The Wire

Teacher Recommendations:

Mr. Tastor:

Website- Conversation Calm

Podcasts- The Way Out Is In, This American Life, Hidden Brain, On Being with Krista Tippett

Books- Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

Ms. Henderson:

Podcasts- Hidden Brain, Radio Lab, Science Friday, Insight

Magazines- Architectural Digest, Sail, Cruising World, Latitude 58

My Recommendations:

News- The Economist, Axios, Associated Press

Podcasts- The Climate Question, Show Me How Good It Gets, Up First by NPR, The Daily by the New York Times, Threadings, Aware and Aggravated, Matter of Opinion, UGLY, The Matcha Diaries 

Substack*- bloomscroll, learning-loving & meaning-making

*Substack is an online media platform for content creators who want to publish to an audience. It’s convenient and I find that because the writers are publishing for a smaller group the content is more personal and niche.