BeReal seems to be the latest Gen Z obsession, and I’m hopping on the bandwagon.
The app sends out a notification to all users at a random time of each day. At that time, you have two minutes to post. The camera takes a photo of both front and back camera, so people see what you look like and where you are.
There’s no time to manicure the perfect selfie, or do something interesting. It’s a glimpse into your friend’s lives, unedited. You can post late, but it does tell your friends that you posted later than the BeReal time of the day.
BeReal has all the best parts of Snapchat and Instagram, without many of the toxic aspects of social media.
Like Snapchat stories, BeReal only lasts for the day, so your friends can only see your BeReal for the day it’s posted.
BeReal also has a “memories” feature, like Snapchat. You can see your own old BeReals, but nobody else can. I like this feature because it gives you a little personal timeline of moments out of each day.
The app uses the best parts of Instagram in the sense that you can see what your friends are up to and interact with their posts. BeReal has a comment section and a “RealMoji” feature where you can react to their post with a little selfie.
BeReal takes out the toxicity from social media in the sense that what you post isn’t a curated, manicured and edited highlight reel of your life. It brings a refreshing level of authenticity to social media.
The app as a whole disencourages retaking pictures or deleting anything. It showcases your friends just being human.
It is also one of those apps that I don’t feel is a waste of time. It isn’t addicting, and I don’t feel worse about myself after using it.
BeReal is the refreshing take on social media young people were craving. During the pandemic, everything was online and realness was needed, not some polished existence. BeReal is breaking down social media standards by preventing users from putting a filter on everything or sorting through a collection of a million selfies in order to post only the best one.
This should be the social media of the future. It is a much more mentally beneficial way to stay connected with your friends, without comparing your life to just carefully selected highlights of their life.
It’s by far the healthiest social media I have ever been on. I hope that everyone will eventually hop onto the BeReal bandwagon.
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Maayan Cohen (she/her) is an opinions writer and a sophomore majoring in digital journalism. In her free time, you can find her trying new recipes, going to a thrift store or creating art.
