If You’re Over the Fakeness of Social Media, Try ‘BeReal’

Share the B-Reel of your life 📷

Filters are taking over Instagram, TikTok, and—let’s be real—our own perception of reality, at an alarming rate.

While it may be a momentary serotonin boost to make your acne scars and unfavourable lighting disappear at the click of a button, is it really sustainable for your long-term mental health?

The French founders of BeReal asked the same question back in 2020, and now the app is having its moment, with downloads rising by 315 per cent just this year.

It’s finding popularity predominantly in the US, but Australia is sure to catch on.

What is BeReal?

According to its description on the App Store, BeReal encourages people to “show your friends who you really are, for once”.

Instagram has its fair amount of ‘photo dumps’ and ‘candid pics’ but there’s always some element of curation to it. Like, doesn’t the thought of posting a photo completely unmatched with the vibe of your grid make you uncomfortable? (Unless your account is on the spectrum of Chaotic Evil).

BeReal is the opportunity to be careless, unthoughtful, and totally spontaneous.

How does it work?

When you first download the app, you’ll be presented with the following guide:

• Everyone receives a notification at the same time, every day at an unpredicted time.
• You have 2 minutes to open BeReal and take a picture of what you’re doing.
• A photo is taken with the back and front cameras.
• You can only see what your friends are doing if you post in time.

Credit: BeReal

On top of this, when you react to someone else’s photo, it prompts you to take a photo of your face. So your face is like a real-life emoji. Wait…isn’t that what a face is meant to do?

It’s meta, unique and a fair amount of fun to scroll through your friends’ unremarkable evenings in front of the telly or on the loo.