I've started using ULIDs when I need IDs that are time-sortable while still retaining the advantages of a UUID. Read more here:

    https://github.com/alizain/ulid

The ultra-quick summary: 48 bits of timestamp followed by 80 bits of randomness. Also, when representing as strings, they use Crockford Base32 encoding, meaning 26 characters instead of a UUID's 36. (I'd argue that UUIDs should use this encoding as well.)