How “real” is BeReal, really?

Laura Chodoroff | Washtenaw Voice

By Willow Symonds
Staff Writer

Most “anti-social-media” apps attempt to decrease addiction and mindless scrolling, but BeReal combats something else: posed pictures and fake narratives. But has it accomplished its goal, or has it only fed into social media’s lingering problems?

When I created a BeReal account last summer, the content on my feed surprised me. The posts resembled Snapchat streaks: bland and poorly shot, different from the typical Instagram post. Similar to Snapchat’s 24-hour expiration date, BeReal’s pictures disappear with the next scheduled post. Only the user can see their previous posts.

French app developers Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau released BeReal in 2020, yet its popularity skyrocketed in mid-2022. I hadn’t even heard of it until July. I’m a Gen-Z student who cut down hours of screen time in the past year, so the idea of a low-stress, low-commitment social media app appealed to me.

I’ve posted every day since downloading the app. According to my “2022 Stats,” however, I only posted 8% of my 154 BeReals that year in the daily two-minute time span. The designated time differs from day to day, meaning no one can purposefully set up an interesting shot while waiting for the timer (though many do wait long after the timer to post something interesting – I know I’ve done that before).

Most of the time when I post late, though, it’s because my “do not disturb” mode muted the notification. I never let my daily screen time reach over three hours, so I probably wasn’t on my phone, anyway.

Still, the app interrupts my thoughts throughout the day: “Uh oh, what if BeReal goes off right now? Should I have my phone out just in case? What if it goes off after I’ve already gone to sleep?”

If people feel they must stop what they’re doing to pull out their phone and take a photo, then maybe we’re still living for social media, not for ourselves. Wouldn’t the realest thing be for the app to capture an image and post it WITHOUT our knowledge?

But, understandably, no one would want that. We wouldn’t use an app that could expose us at not just our “realest,” but also at our rock-bottom worst. If everyone posted the moment the notification came through, then we would often see the view from people’s pants pockets and surprise selfies of them on the toilet.

The mission for a 100% authentic social media platform may have been doomed from the start. It’s the same reason Instagram “photo dumps” can be just as artificial as regular posts, or why some people purposefully influence their Spotify Wrapped: the user curates a specific vibe they want their friends or followers to see, instead of existing online naturally.

Despite BeReal’s flaws, though, I do enjoy the app. It’s easy to navigate and I don’t spend hours scrolling through it. I probably wouldn’t have thought the same thing a few years ago, since this would have been another crushing weight on my phone’s screen time to worry about.

I just hope BeReal doesn’t add a “story” or “reel” feature like every social media platform these past few years.