When it comes to the New Year, there are several traditions South Koreans stick to -- whether that’s enjoying a bowl of tteokguk, or rice cake soup, with family or going to see the first sunrise of the year.

However, in addition to the conventional New Year's rites, young Koreans have discovered ways to put a unique, digitalized twist on some other classic New Year's traditions, including fortunetelling and diaries.

Fortunetelling to overcome fear, uncertainty

Visiting fortunetellers for the New Year is a popular tradition in Korea when seeking advice or predictions about key areas, such as career, relationships and health for the year ahead.

Though the tradition is thought of as mostly practiced by older generations, it has recently caught on among younger Koreans, who consult fortunetellers on matters such as career changes, dating and marriage, weaving it into their daily lives.

Han Min-ah, 28, is one such young person who consulted a fortuneteller before the start of 2025. Han told The Korea Herald that she had to make a reservation with the fortuneteller months in advance, as “word had got around that the fortuneteller was incredibly accurate with her readings.”

“I visited the fortuneteller to ask about my job, as I’m thinking of making a switch in my career in 2025. I wanted to know if this was a good year to make big changes in my life and whether I had luck coming my way,” Han said.

While visiting fortunetellers for new-year advice isn’t only done in Korea, the new year also symbolizes a fresh start, making it an opportune time to seek advice when making important life decisions.

Han admitted that she doesn’t believe what the fortuneteller says word-for-word, but finds it to be “a fun activity, a form of entertainment.”

“I know I’m in charge of my own life and how it unfolds,” said Han. “But still, it’s fun to take the positive stuff the fortuneteller says with me into the new year. And I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious of the things they warn me of.”

With fortunetelling taking its place as a form of entertainment, the way young Koreans seek out such fortunetellers has also evolved from traditional methods.

Recently, technology has made fortunetelling more accessible, with mobile applications offering services similar to those that fortunetellers would provide in person.

According to the Korean big data platform Mobile Index, two leading fortunetelling apps, Jeomshin and Forceteller, saw a more than 10 percent increase in the number of weekly active users in December 2024 compared to the same month a year earlier. This upward trend was driven primarily by users in their 20s, among whom weekly active users on Jeomshin and Forceteller rose by 20 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

In addition to mobile apps, young Koreans have also turned to YouTube channels that help viewers deduce their own futures based on their year, month, day and time of birth as well as Open KakaoTalk chatrooms which users can turn to for one-on-one fortunetelling consultations via text messaging.

The dakku trend, digitalized

In the hope of living in a more organized way, many Koreans purchase journals before or during the first week of the New Year to plan and write about their lives.

This trend was especially evident when dakku, a Korean term for the hobby of diary decorating, surged in popularity among those in their 20s and 30s during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, this trend has evolved into a digital version, with more digital diaries being introduced in the journaling market. Also known as didakku, a combination of the words digital and dakku, more young Koreans have been resorting to digital journals instead of physical ones for the upcoming year.

Shin Min-ji, 25, is one such young adult who has adopted the new journaling method. Shin, who actively took up diary decoration as a hobby in 2022, stated that she decided to switch to digital journaling toward the end of 2024 “to save money.”

“I used to spend 100,000 ($68) to 150,000 won on stationery products like stickers and masking tape every two or three months,” said Shin. “It was exhilarating at the time, and I’d take on part-time jobs and use my pocket money to buy them. But around November last year, I realized that I needed to make this hobby of mine more financially sustainable to continue it.”

After searching on social media, Shin found that there were several journaling accounts selling digital diary templates that were more budget-friendly, with template prices ranging between 10,000 won and 30,000 won.

Shin is just one of the many journaling aficionados showing interest in digital journals. On Instagram, the Korean-language hashtag for digital diary has more than 5,000 posts while YouTube videos showing digital diary templates have racked up more than 100,000 views.

With demand growing for such content, “digital stationery stores” have also emerged. Webudding, for example, is an online digital stationery store based in Korea that enables its users to buy and sell a range of digital stationery items that one would use on physical journals, such as stickers, masking tape and journaling templates. As of August 2024, Webudding had sold more than 350,000 digital stationery products made by artists based in more than 30 countries.

Starbucks Korea has also introduced digital journals to its range of merchandise for the first time as an addition to the physical journals it gives out to customers who purchase drinks during its annual year-end event in December.

“The rise in the digital stationery market and digital journaling is closely tied to the rise in the use of tablets among young Koreans,” said professor Lee Eun-hee from Inha University’s Department of Consumer Science. According to Gallup Korea, the number of teenagers who owned tablets surged from 27 percent in 2021 to 61 percent in 2023. Among those in their 20s, the ownership rate reached 55 percent in 2023.