BeReal was designed to have a more casual and realistic quality to it compared to other social media apps. No likes, no follower count, no time to premeditate posts. But despite these efforts to keep it real, the rising social media app has become what it feared most: fake. 

     So what exactly is BeReal? It’s a popular, new social media app that appears to be different from existing apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Once a day, a notification pops up alerting that it’s time to take a BeReal. You have two minutes to take a picture of who you’re with, what you’re doing, and where you are. Only once you have posted are you able to see your friends’ pictures.

     It started off as a success. Teens left and right were stopping in their tracks when the timer went off. They were quite literally stopping dead in their tracks; BeReals taken in cars, in class, at work. 

     Essentially, the purpose of these spontaneous life updates is to show everyone else how “cool” and “exciting” your everyday life is. And of course, this glorification of an “effortless, yet glamorous” lifestyle awakens something in human nature. 

     Social media has once again proven that people in society like to compete with each other in who can appear perfect.      

     The idealization of having a perfect image became the downfall of the app’s true purpose. Teens started posting late instead of on time. They’d wait until they’re with friends, doing something worth sharing, or at a location other than their house.

     Posting late on BeReal completely diminishes the idea of “being real” on social media. Instead of being your honest self, users of the app wait until the perfect moment to take the picture.

     Do others really need to know what’s going on in your life 24/7?

     Monte Vista junior Aanshwi Kaul recently deleted BeReal from her phone. 

     “I think it’s a waste of time,” Kaul said, “I don’t get why people need to know what you’re doing all the time.” 

     Conversely, Monte Vista junior Ilana Punyansky, is in favor of the app’s spontaneous aspects and she explains why not everyone posts on time.

     “People are busy so they can’t always take it right when the timer goes off,” Punyansky said. 

     BeReal’s feed consists of the staged, well-thought out posts, but it also shows friends laying in bed, watching movies, and chilling at home. Teens find comfort in the app’s casualness. 

     Is it being fake to wait and post when you are with friends? Is it being fake to want to share something more interesting about your day with others rather than what you look like laying in bed?

     Personally, I think the app has failed at its objective. The goal was to create a non-toxic environment online and prove to the world that social media doesn’t have to be staged and unrealistic. Instead, it has evolved into an app just like the rest thanks to teens who think they have to put on a persona in order to be deemed interesting by others.

     If the users are not taking the BeReal right as the notification pops up, then what’s the point of having the app?

     The absence of likes, the hidden followers, and the countdown to post is all a facade. 

     Nothing on social media will ever truly “be real.”