Is Instagram's throne being challenged by BeReal, a social media app without filters?
For those unfamiliar with BeReal, it's a new social networking site that urges users to shoot a candid photo at a different, randomly picked time each day. When you get the notice, you have two minutes to pose; the software records the scene using your phone's front and back cameras, then shares the results with your pals. I was hooked after the first day of using it. My roommates and I were joking over dinner at the embarrassing scenarios in which the app had caught our pals around 8:19 p.m., like being lost in the rain, cooking eggs, and wearing shampoo mohawks.
We're not alone: BeReal's monthly active users have increased by 315 percent year over year since its introduction in December 2019. According to NBC News, it has been one of the top 10 most downloaded free social networking applications for iPhones virtually every day this month.
However, the notion of being genuine on social media isn't new. Instagram is presently dominated by so-called casual picture dumps, while famous influencers make more agonising efforts to look approachable. It's fashionable to seem genuine on social media, but you don't need a blue check mark to recognise the amount of planning, posing, and editing that goes into even the most convincing "candid" photos.
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BeReal is only the latest in a long line of popular efforts to escape social media's pressures...via social media. Apps like HujiFilm and David's Disposables were created to emulate pre-iPhone photography by removing the ability to instantly review and alter photographs. TikTok was regarded as a more real platform for users to be—and seem like—themselves when it initially gained popularity. Even TikTok, however, has beauty filters. These patterns all lead to the same conclusion: we're tired of having to retake, edit, and recreate ourselves every time we want to publish on social networking networks.
BeReal becomes liberating because it is so restricting. The software takes away our ability to prepare for the ideal photo, change our looks and environs for camera preparation, or choose the best from a plethora of virtually similar shots. There are no antique effects or beauty filters. It's just you, peacefully attacked in your own zone.
If you're fortunate, the app will capture you just in time for a wonderfully aesthetically pleasing drink clink or shouting out a tune at a music festival. The majority of the time, though, you'll be asked to upload a picture of yourself looking at a computer, sweating on a treadmill, or wandering around the grocery store. The beauty of it is that it will help you understand that everyone else's life may be just as exhausting as yours.
Ironically, of all the social media networks I use, my BeReal feed has become the least monotonous. It's a breath of fresh air to see photos of even my most attractive pals waiting at the laundry. My FOMO has been at an all-time high this semester after my intentions to study abroad were cancelled due to the pandemic. My Instagram feed seems like a crowded vacation brochure with half of my pals now travelling abroad. My first week on BeReal confirmed what I suspected: they, too, had schoolwork and hangovers. BeReal photographs make up for what they lack in substance and quality with honesty. The app emphasises the moments we'd never consider worthy of a post and reminds us on a regular basis that there's more to life than the highlights. This is for everyone.
We're all aware that most social media portrays people's lives in outrageously false ways—because we're all part of the farce. Even still, when just glimpses of their finest moments, staged and polished, are made available, it's tempting to believe that your pals have considerably more fascinating lives than you do.
I'm not saying that BeReal has healed my social media ego. I still wish my teeth were a shade whiter in an Instagram photo I titled "casual Friday," but it didn't bother me when BeReal caught me in foils at the hair salon. Perhaps paradoxical, but the idea of a sparkling new software arriving to save us from our social media exhaustion is as well. All I know is that being honest over the last week has improved my mood. It is something I intend to do on a regular basis.
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