Disclaimer: BeReal is not sponsoring this post. I’ve been on the BeReal app for several months and love it. I first heard about it from my sister, who uses the app. BeReal is a social media app that is different from any other social media app. The way it works is you get a notification at a random time that it’s time to post on BeReal. You get two minutes to post a photo of yourself. The camera takes a picture front and back. You then post the photo and get to see your friend’s photos. You can comment and add reactions. That’s all there is to it. There are no ads. There is no ‘feed’ to scroll. Through BeReal, you get a glance into the day-to-day lives of your friends and family.
Here are some other details about BeReal: if you take a photo during that two-minute window, you can take two additional photos that day. You can post only one photo if you miss the two-minute window. Having the two additional photos is nice, especially if events are going on later that day that you’d like to capture in a photo.
I love this app because it’s very simple. I don’t get caught up ‘scrolling’ like I did on other social media apps. Another thing I love about the app is that it stores past photos in a calendar format. Because I’ve been on the app for six months, I now have a large collection of photos to look back on. BeReal has captured little snippets of my day. Some of the moments captured are the mundane parts of life, like the gleeful smile of my one-year-old son eating his breakfast, smothered in yogurt. Some of the moments captured have been big events that have happened this year, such as our family vacation to Gatlinburg. It’s an accurate representation of my life right now: the ordinary, everyday moments of raising two young kids, a breath of fresh air from the often curated photos shown on social media.
In writing this post, I don’t mean to talk negatively about Facebook or Instagram. These apps can be a great way to keep up with family and friends. There are positive aspects to social media. I personally have struggled with comparing myself to others on social media. Over the past year or so, I have read books about social media usage. I’ve spent a lot of time researching social media and the positive as well as the negative effects that it can have on people. Moving away from social media (in the traditional sense) and joining BeReal has positively impacted my life. I hope that more people learn about this app, people who, like me, are seeking authenticity. If you join, find me there! Expect toothy, yogurt-smeared grins from my toddler and cheesy grins from my five-year-old dressed as a Disney Princess.
