While I love social media like it’s one of my own, it can be exhausting to keep up a curated account. I struggle to maintain an aesthetically pleasing Instagram profile with complimentary squares that rest beside each other perfectly. While I capture moments and let them sit in my camera roll, rarely do my “followers” see my candid and raw life. Apparently, it’s now trending to capture a snapshot of your day and share it with your closest friends through the new app “BeReal.”
The whole concept is “‘BeReal.’ Your Friends for Real.” The only rule of the app is to post a picture from both sides of your camera when the app sends you a notification. The app has caught me in the dining hall, in a study room at Shain, and even in bed watching New Girl as I wind down for the night. It is now trending to be yourself and be in the moment. You know times are changing when it’s cool to take a picture of your feet walking to class or you laying in bed finishing a paper. There is absolutely no pressure to post “exciting” things because the sole purpose of the app is to capture your life in a fleeting moment. People find other people’s points of view to be exhilarating and exciting content in itself, and the app is based upon this premise.
I am curious to see whether the vices of other social media platforms will immediately seep into BeReal. On Instagram, it is easy to compare your life to others, and your appearance to every fair-faced, tanned influencer. On both Instagram and Snapchat, it’s easy for users to only produce content they want to share with their fan base. Infrequently, will one post the moments of defeat or distress. Rather, you capture the fleeting seconds of laughs, smiles, and cinematic moments. I believe that BeReal is well-equipped to stand guard against the opponent of comparison. As long as people abide by the app’s aim, there will be no need to have a more exciting moment than your closest friends. The app is designed for you and your friends, not the faceless strangers that might frequent your other social media.
I want to encourage you all to be real (and I’m not just talking about the app ;)). BeReal encourages us to enjoy moments with our people—our closest friends who we love living life beside. Fortunately, we don’t need an app to tell us that our moment is as important and great as everybody else’s moment. Enjoy the time spent within your daily life; whether it be showering to Adele’s “Someone Like You,” reading a book with friends on Temple Green, or eating Harris’s mystery meat of the day, there is ample time for you to be real in every moment. Capture some of these moments through the platform of your choosing, and keep others to yourself in the gallery that resides within you.