BeReal ... or Fake?

BY VANI MITTAL '26 & SAHASRA CHAVALI '26

Social media: apps, pictures, videos, reels, posts. The ideas that encompass almost everything about our lives. We wake up, open Instagram, and scroll through TikTok on the bus. During the school day, we constantly check to see how many snaps we got. So what new app is destined to become the trend now? BeReal. A rising social media platform that has become popular for its unfiltered posts, BeReal encourages authenticity and tries to capture an individual without filters or planned photos or videos. However, no matter how much app developers try, no one can create a truly raw social media platform that allows people to be themselves. Even with BeReal, users still try to refine their posts to eliminate any flaw, retaking pictures countless times to get the “perfect pic,” disregarding its purpose to be candid.
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App reviewers have mixed opinions about posts’ authenticity, and as BeReal gets more users, more issues are revealed. For instance, a third-year English student, Colin, from The Daily Bruin; posts late more than half of the time. He said that he saved his BeReal snapshot for later so that he could capture a moment that reflected how he wanted to represent his friends. Essentially, Colin plans ahead of time to make his post “picture perfect.” BeReal is meant to be taken in a specific two minutes of the day when the notification arrives, but its authenticity is compromised  when people take their BeReal outside of the two minute span so that they capture themselves at a concert, at the mall, or doing something else fun. In reality, they plan to only take their BeReal at these specific times, because it portrays them as someone they aren’t, or as someone they want to be. By saving this post for later to capture a more than a mundane version of one’s life, it doesn’t show one living in the moment, increasing the pressure of presenting a perfect life online.  

In contrast, BeReal can be seen more positively. According to user “Kcamshaw” on Common Sense Media, “there are no filters and it shows how many times [someone] took a picture before they landed on the one they posted. The purpose is to show you truly what your friends are doing at that moment, not edited pictures of perfection.” This user emphasizes how BeReal is an authentic app, as it tries to eliminate the heavily edited content that is commonly seen online.While BeReal does have good intentions, as it tries to encourage users to post what they are doing without much time to stage a photo, people find ways to post at a more desirable time.
Now that we’ve seen BeReal’s positive and negative sides, it’s important to recognize how well the app actually accomplishes its goal. Although the app does cover some of social media’s issues, it skips out on one main one: mental health. It is the pressure of appearing perfect online and the comparison fueled by edited feed that causes users to refine their posts. And if one user posts themselves at a fun or trending place, peer pressure is apt to kick in: now that user must also plan their post and recreate that effect with their picture. Everyone wants to be seen in a positive light, and to achieve that, many believe they cannot truly be their authentic selves on social media.

​While BeReal has its flaws and doesn’t really achieve its goal of being unfiltered on social media, it has good intentions. The idea that social media should be a place to share and interact with friends, rather than be a game of social anxiety, is beginning to come to fruition, and BeReal is a good starting place. However, there are even better ways to emphasize this idea in our social media platforms, and that begins with being honest with ourselves. Ultimately, BeReal isn’t perfect, but neither are we, so let’s embrace the app for its meaning and be real.