Reviews With Mya: BeReal
By: Mya Schweitzer
BeReal is a new social media platform taking over the internet. This social media platform allows you to post a photo once a day and react to others’ photos by taking a picture of your reaction.You are given 2 minutes to submit your post. Photos that are taken outside of this time frame are considered late and marked with how late they were posted.
Is BeReal a better social media alternative? I believe that using BeReal allows for people to “live in the moment” and lets other people know what people are doing at a random point in time. Rather than having to stage and use filters for photos to enhance them, BeReal only lets you use the two cameras on your phone. The app also shows how many times it takes for someone to take a certain photo that they were going to publish. Another feature that I believe is better than other forms of social media is that other users “like” posts by sending selfies of themselves.
BeReal can be a fun way to connect with your friends that is less time consuming than other social media platforms. Teenagers tend to spend many hours scrolling through Instagram and TikTok whereas BeReal is a once a day post. BeReal could cause added pressure and problems keeping up with the 2 minute time window as Instagram and Snapchat can be posted any time of the day. The app is less likely to become addictive with the lack of mindless scrolling. As with other social medias, BeReal does allow for users to manage their privacy settings to protect them from too much information being exposed. Since BeReal is used more to check in versus communicate, it seems to be less likely to be a platform for cyberbullying.
BeReal first gained popularity in the early months of 2022. Many teenagers began using this app because of its focus on authenticity. It is easy to use and just takes a few minutes each day. Spencer Nichols said she likes this new social media platform because she is able to keep up to date with what her friends are doing. Cameron Jenkins said “I like being able to look back at my previous posts”. He also added that he wishes the countdown was longer than 2 minutes. BeReal can be used as a positive social media platform if used the correct way.
BeReal is starting to lose its popularity in Osborne High School. Many teens say it is overrated and boring to post on. Like many social trends, BeReal was not made to last like Snapchat or Instagram. Eventually this social media may completely lose its popularity and fade away into obscurity.
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