How Real Is BeReal?

Credit: Focal Project JP on Flickr

“Time to BeReal!” 

These three simple words have dictated the lives of Marist students for the past year. As the new app BeReal has risen in popularity, students have become glued to their phones more now than ever. But why is this such a big deal?

BeReal entered the App Store in December 2019, but it wasn’t until the beginning of 2022 that the app began to gain traction. Once a day at a random time, the app sends out an “It’s time to BeReal” notification. Under a two-minute window, users post a picture of their current activity of themselves and their surroundings. However, if a user doesn’t post in that short time frame, they can’t see their friends’ media and a “posted late” caption will appear with their spontaneous photo. 

Just like clockwork, whenever the notification goes off, students all across campus can be seen raising their phones to take their daily pictures.

Originally designed for people to show a glimpse into their real life without any filters or editing, the app has become a new level of social media pressure.

“I got BeReal because all of my other friends had it and I didn’t want to miss out on what they were doing,” said Jill Benoit ‘25. 

This belief demonstrates FOMO or the fear of missing out. This feeling is commonly experienced when someone witnesses other people doing something fun, while they just sit back and watch.

With the rise of social media, FOMO is also incredibly present. A study published in the scientific journal Computers in Human Behavior proves that FOMO and social media use, as well as problems due to social media use, are linked.

Sharing a similar exclusivity aspect as to private stories on Snapchat or Instagram, friends are the only ones who can see each other’s posts. Similar to Benoit, other Marist students joined in on this application due to the pressure of staying connected. 

“Sometimes I feel a little pressure,” confessed Elizabeth Baumgardner ‘25, “Sometimes I'll be in class and see [the notification] and wait until later, maybe when I’m with my friends.”

In reality, being real is not always true due to the ability to post late. 

“By giving you the option to post a late BeReal, it kind of defeats the purpose,” said Olivia Rousse ‘25. “I definitely post mine late because I am always in awkward situations or places that aren't really interesting [when the notification goes off]. Which, like I said, defeats the purpose.”

With another social media platform to stay on top of, young adults have another online responsibility to take care of on their phones. 

Other social media apps like Instagram allow edited photos of people to be showcased, which could warp one’s perception of what looks natural and what doesn’t. By nature, BeReal forces users to only post natural photos. 

“I think it’s a very unique type of social media. It's an opportunity for people to show themselves in their true form, instead of always editing,” said Rousse. 

Recently, the trend of being casual and natural is “in.” This can be shown clearly with BeReal, and also in other ways such as photo dumps on Instagram. 

Jenna McFarlane, an art director at the creative agency “The Digital Fairy,” says that social media casualness such as BeReal serve[s] as a “visual humble brag: ‘Even the unfiltered outtakes of my life look great.’”

The unique interface of the app makes it appealing to a wide variety of people and demonstrates a new concept. Marist students will continue to “be real” as long as the app stays trendy, no matter what the definition of “real'' is. 

“Everything else is so filtered,” Baumgardner said. “Like Instagram and Snapchat, you actively choose what you want to put on it. I think people really like the real aspect of the app because at the end of the day, even if it's kind of fake it's still kind of real!”