Recently an app has caught the attention of people across the world, becoming one of Instagram’s biggest rivals amongst Gen Z’s, Zillennials and even Millennials now.
The app, BeReal sends a notification to its users once a day, each day at a different time, urging its users to capture whatever they are doing at that moment.
“Time to BeReal”
Users are then encouraged to take a photo within 2 minutes of when they receive the notification. An image is captured on both the front facing camera and on the main camera, depicting you and whatever you’re looking at. Once you’re happy with the images they are uploaded to the feed with the option to add a caption. After the 2 minute notification, any photos that are posted, are described as ‘Late’. You also cannot see what your friends have posted until you have posted.
What makes the app different from any other platform, is that you cannot edit, photoshop or filter the photos before posting. Everyone that contributes to the app is showing their day to day lives in real time.
As a Zillenial who grew up with Instagram and Snapchat, editing and filtering an image before posting it, would go without a thought, so you can imagine my shock at the lack of options when I tested out BeReal. However, within the first week, I had noticed benefits to the app.
Typically on Sundays, I will scroll through my Instagram feed, envious of those away on a weekend trip, out on hikes, or at bottomless brunches, but when that notification hit for BeReal,
I noticed the majority of my friends having a lazy day, some hungover, some in their pyjamas at 4pm, being a couch potato. I was weirdly comforted by it as I no longer felt guilty for also having a day of doing nothing. Followed by the Monday where everyone posted their workday, each sitting at their desks on a gorgeous, sunny day. I wasn’t missing out on anything, or feeling the pressure to be living an exciting life, like what we see on social media.
There’s no room for influencers, or opportunities to make careers out of the platform. It is such a simple concept that is breaking down the strive for perfection that social media has curated over the years. BeReal is a breath of fresh air that promotes realness in the social media sphere. Something that I assume many young people have not experienced before.
Niamh
