Maddy Lockwood, Assistant Features Editor
Undoubtedly, by this point you have heard someone excitedly say, “It’s time to BeReal!” and as you look around you can see people pull out their phones and quickly take a photo. All of these people are participating in a relatively new form of social media — because we need one more form of social media to push on people, right? — called BeReal.
This app randomly sends you a notification throughout the day (at a different time every day), and the goal is to take a picture and upload it to the app within two minutes of the notification. If you miss the notification, though, you still have the opportunity to upload later in the day. You have complete privacy controls and the ability to see who can view your content, so personally, I (perhaps naively) don’t worry as much as I do with other forms of social media. Essentially, the idea is to see what people are really doing — not just the lavish and curated lives people intentionally create on social media.
Personally, I am a fanatic for BeReal because it is supposed to be a more authentic peek into people’s lives, and it’s exciting to get a fun little notification at a random time every day. The app captures a photo with both the front and back camera of your phone to get a nearly 360-degree view of your life at that moment. Although the point of the app is literally to be real about your life in the moment, people have started to (as I call it) BeFake, by waiting to take their submission until they are in a better “postable” moment. In my opinion, it completely defeats the purpose of the app. There are plenty of opportunities for anyone to post the coolest parts of their day, but it becomes more special the more real people are on the app.
Have I been guilty of a BeFake? Absolutely. It’s hard not to fall into that trap, especially when I know I have a cool event later that day or I don’t want to post a picture of myself laying in bed on a Netflix binge for the third day in a row. I am a changed woman, and now I am a firm believer that a terrible BeReal is better than any “good” BeFake in the world. Truthfully, for just one in every 10 days I will get to capture a super cool BeReal, but — hey — that's what makes that one super cool post even better!