As the age of the internet brings many changes, some interesting apps have emerged. One slightly newer app on the minds of many these days is BeReal, a French social media app. It recently gained much popularity in the United States and has been the cause of some recent controversy. If you aren’t familiar with BeReal, it is an app where users receive a notification once a day giving them two minutes to capture a photo from the front and back camera of whatever they are doing when the notification goes off.

In theory, this app seems like a super fun and harmless idea. As Michael Camilleri, a junior at John Adams High School says, the thought of a more realistic app is “refreshing” to many. Meredith Anella, another junior at Adams says that she likes that “it isn’t fake like Instagram and TikTok”. She also says, “There’s no editing and filters in it,” which is rare in social media apps today, making it more personal than most of its competitors. Michael also explains, “I like to see my friends also sitting on the couch and doing homework. That’s something you don’t see on social media too much”. BeReal can also be a really fun app. For example, The Tower recently posted a video of students’ BeReals with their teachers on Instagram reels that the student community really loved. It can also be really entertaining to use the app and “take goofy pictures”, as Ana Sofia Macharaschwili, another junior at Adams, adds.   

However, there are some setbacks to the app, and many people have very conflicting opinions about it. “People use it like it’s Instagram. I’m not here to see a good selfie of you, that’s being fake!” exclaims Ana Sofia. She explains “I really like the idea of it — especially if it’s goofy –but people sometimes misinterpret the point of it and take it to the reason why social media is toxic.” She says this because many people don’t use the app as it’s intended, and they save their BeReal for later in the day when they think they look better, or when they are doing something more interesting. “There have been plenty of times it’s gone off where I intentionally haven’t done it and saved it for when I’m doing something more interesting,” confesses Addie Rabbitt. Ana Sofia declares that this is the whole problem with the app:  “Saving your BeReal for later TAKES THE WHOLE POINT OUT OF IT” *insert flailing arms*. 

So there you have it, folks! If you get BeReal, you won’t be the only one guilty of saving it for something cool you do later in the day. I know I’m guilty of it too sometimes. Come on, we can’t all be perfect. But I suggest that you make it a little challenge for yourself to actually “BeReal” most of the time. I say let’s keep BeReal REAL!