In a society where we value our appearance on social media rather than in person, there has been a distortion of what we view as reality and what we view as a filter. The app, BeReal, has allowed us to see into people’s lives at random times of the day.

Common phrases you’ll hear in the halls lately are ones like “Can you take my BeReal?” or “You want to be in my BeReal?” The app has been out since 2020 but has just now gotten a lot of attention. It started to blow up on Tiktok recently and has influenced many people to download it.

BeReal has caught the eye of a lot of people who are tired of apps that constantly use filters, effects, and edits. Most people wanted an app that is more “real” and not a different version of them.

The app sends you a notification at a different time every day to post your BeReal. Once that notification arrives, it starts the timer of two minutes to post and share it before it is late. If you post after two minutes it’ll send a notification to your followers you

posted late. The whole concept of the social media app is to show your followers and friends what you are doing at that exact moment.

When you decide to take a picture it takes one from the front camera and then a couple of seconds later a photo from your rear camera. The point of taking the picture from the back is to show the surroundings of the person and what they are doing at that moment. Sometimes, people are doing something interesting like traveling somewhere but other times it could just be you lying in bed. That’s not something you would regularly post somewhere else like Instagram. It’s a way of showing people a different side of you they haven’t seen before.

Once you post your picture and followers can see it, they can comment or react to it. Unlike any other social media app, BeReal uses Realmojis instead of emojis. You just have to click on the reaction button at the bottom-right corner to open a section of what looks like regular emojis and capture your picture.

On top of that, Bereal only lets you see others’ posts if you share one of

your own, so you have to contribute to be a part of everything.

You can also choose whether you want to make your picture visible to just your followers or the public to where the whole world can see it. On the app, you can slide to the right side which is labeled “Discovery” to see people’s posts from all around the world.

You also might wonder who created BeReal. It’s entrepreneur Alexis Barreyat. He is a former employee of GoPro and is now the founder and CEO of BeReal. He wanted to create an app that was authentic and not like other social media apps. The app tells users that if they want to become famous this is not the app for them. “BeReal won’t make you famous; if you want to become an influencer you can stay on TikTok and Instagram,” the app’s description says.

It has been quite difficult to find Barreyat talking about the app itself. Out of all the articles talking about BeReal, none of them have comments about Barreyat. Bereal users, on the other hand, have a lot to say about the app.

“I think BeReal is a great way to share with others more details about your life just through simple pictures,” sophomore Sage Scudday said. “It can make others laugh and encourage people to share things about their life as well. It may not be my favorite social media app but it’s definitely one of my top favorites.”

Some students don’t think it’s any different from any other apps out there, but they still really enjoy it.

“The app BeReal is called BeReal for a reason, it goes off at a certain time and you don’t want to be late,” sophomore Kaitlyn Tryon said. “It’s just like any other social media, you can see where your friends are and what they’re doing at that specific time their BeReal notification goes off.”

BeReal has made a big impact on people. It made them realize how social media isn’t perfect as people make it seem. Posting these two simple pictures have made them feel better about themselves and not worry so much about how they look. It showed users to “BeReal” and not someone they’re not.