As all of my friends know, I’m not the biggest fan of social media. I deleted my Instagram and Snapchat a few years ago, and I’m much happier without feeling any pressure to post, and living my life in real-time. But a new social media platform has risen, and it’s been marketed to people like me who hate how fake social media is: BeReal.
For those of you who aren’t sure what exactly BeReal is, the purpose is to take a photo of yourself once a day, at a random time. Then, when the app sends out the daily notification to take your BeReal, you have two minutes to take a photo of whatever it is you’re doing, with your front and back camera. It’s raw, unfiltered, and, well, real.
When BeReal first gained popularity, I was skeptical. My friends tried to convince me to download it, saying this one is different because the purpose is to, you know, “be real.” After being featured in friends’ BeReals and noticing how fun it was, I finally caved and downloaded the app — but ended up deleting it after noticing how much BeReal has lost its original intent. Unsurprisingly, BeReal may have turned into just another way to glamorize and romanticize your life.
Saving or staging your BeReal totally goes against the purpose of the app.
I know you’ve done it — everyone has.
Even before I downloaded BeReal, I noticed the growing tendency for people to save taking their BeReals for a more exciting time in their day. For example, I once greeted my friend at a party we’d been planning for a while, and she told me, “I’m so excited — I’ve been saving my BeReal for tonight.”
The truth is, I don’t know one person on BeReal who has never saved or heavily staged their post. And the tendency to save your BeReals is spreading like wildfire, because if everyone’s faking theirs, it becomes okay for you to do the same. (I mean, no one wants to be that person who’s doing nothing when everyone’s doing something.)
And I understand that the app does “expose” those who take a late BeReal, intending to increase the incentive to take your BeReal right when the notification comes, but still, nobody cares. People just want to capture the best part of their day — what kind of use is a “digital diary” consisting solely of photos at home, in class, or in bed? Plus, if everyone is being exposed for being late, it no longer matters if you do the same.
But, must I remind you: The name of the app is BeReal. Even if you’re in bed doing nothing; even if you don’t look your best; even if you’re not at a party or concert or traveling somewhere cool… the point is really just to be real. However, I’m not shocked people are beginning to ignore the true intention of the app — calling a social media app “BeReal” is, quite honestly, an oxymoron.
The nature of social media is to show the best version of ourselves.
Can an app like BeReal even exist in the first place given our innate need to show how great our lives are? My argument is no, it can’t. Virtually any social media app — particularly photo-sharing apps with followers — will inevitably end up lacking authenticity, as people find more ways to create an attractive, glamorous, yet effortless image of themselves.
In my case, on BeReal, I noticed that I became disappointed when I wasn’t doing something exciting, feeling like I needed to showcase a fun, positive part of my day — and equally annoyed when I was doing something exciting and did not receive a notification. I found myself wishing the BeReal would go off at a certain time of day, a sentiment I shared with so many people, instead of just enjoying the event I was looking forward to.
And it doesn’t end there — every day, countless users beg the BeReal staff to send the notification at a particular time of day. The point is, there’s so much added pressure on taking a great BeReal, which was clearly not the purpose of the app. All of this caused me to delete BeReal, not even a week after I got it.
I know many of us are content with BeReal, but let this serve as a reminder that, despite its original intention, BeReal is not real — nor will it ever be (real). Next time, instead of being disappointed that your BeReal didn’t go off during an excursion or night out with friends, just be happy you were able to partake in that event in the first place. That’s real.