As someone who has the app, “BeReal”, and participates in taking a selfie of what I am doing in the moment, I do not understand the point of the app nor the trend. The app began in April 2022, when the app had been downloaded over 7.67 million times. Then, in July it had been downloaded 20 million times, and just this month it had been downloaded 28 million times. 

Once a day, users of the app will receive a random notification (at a random time) to take a selfie. They will have 2 minutes to take their photo and post it to the app for friends and even strangers to see. The interesting part of the app: when taking your selfie, it will use your front camera to get your selfie and your back camera to get a picture of what you are doing. When you post, it will automatically post your picture and activity to the app without giving you the chance to edit the photo. Hence the name, “BeReal”. 

Now call me old fashioned, but whatever happened to reaching out to your friends talking to them? It was not until Finn Johnson (11), a student at CSHS, told me “Even then, you can’t always be real”. Brittany Fortune (12) explained, “I can see what everyone is doing throughout the day and it’s really interesting to see how different people spend their days at the same time”. After hearing their brief explanations, it has opened more positive views to the use of BeReal.  

It sometimes makes me giggle when someone stops everything in their tracks to upload their BeReal, whether it be in school or a family event, I have even seen people take a BeReal at a funeral. BeReal has taken over GenZ, and there is no doubt everyone has their strong opinions on the trend.