Be Real on BeReal

Authenticy can be hard to find in the digital age.  Social media tends to be a place of carefully considered, curated and edited posts.  Spontaneity is almost unheard of (ignoring Kanye's recent Instagram tirade).  Apps like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat allow users to post the best versions of themselves.  No one has to hear about your boring day at work, or your visit to the passport office.  You can post photos of yourself with beautiful filters that extend your eyelashes and smoothen your skin.  You can mold an image of yourself completely different to your real life persona.

But what if you want to get back to nitty gritty?  No filters, no selective posting, no editing whatsoever.  Enter BeReal.  As with most good ideas, I found out about BeReal in the pub.  My friends got a notification on their phone and instantly their cameras were out.  The concept of BeReal is simple. At a random time, once every day (although not in the middle of the night) the app will ask you to "be real".  At this time you have 2 minutes to take a photo of what is in front of you.  The app also automatically takes a photo with your front facing camera.  The results of these candid moments can vary massively.  The app could ask you to "be real" at 7:30am on a Tuesday, usually resulting in photos of groggy heads paired against a cup of coffee. Alternatively, the time to "be real" could be at 11:30pm on Saturday, with slightly inebriated looks at pints. 

BeReal is brilliant for a number of reasons. Firstly, you can only see what others post, if you post yourself.  This means that in order to look at potentially embarrassing photos of your friends, you too must (potentially) embarrass yourself.  Secondly, BeReal will tell your friends how late your post is.  So for example, if when it's time to "be real", I post a photo of my smiling face looking at a roast I just prepared, I will have gotten quite lucky. If I post that same photo 2 hours late, my friends will be aware that my photo was carefully planned so as to avoid a selfie during the sweaty cooking process. Finally, the way BeReal is designed makes it unlikely for you to sink hours of your time in the app. Most of the buzz will only linger around the "be real" moment. There's no need to revisit the app, unless one of your friends posts late.  

BeReal isn't perfect.  The app can be a bit buggy at times.  It can't host video (yet) and sometimes the effort of posting seems unbearable (but maybe that's the point). Regardless, BeReal is raw, simple fun. It's not going to be revolutionary. It won't replace Instagram.  But with enough of your friends on there, it will provide a few moments of joy throughout your day.  Just be prepared for some unflattering photos and mundane scenery.