BeReal — A Return To Reality Or The Next Step Towards Dystopia?

The new social media app wants you to believe the former, but is it convincing enough?

Photo by Cristina Zaragoza on Unsplash

I hate social media, so I installed BeReal. Nothing wrong with that sentence, right? Nothing at all. It must be a joke, you might think, but I assure you it’s not. I left a number of social media platforms behind a few years ago, all thanks to a very special lady who introduced me to the lesser-known negative effects of endless scrolling apps. Julie, if you’re out there reading this, thank you, and keep spreading the word. 🙏 The world needs fewer people scrolling mindlessly, and more people truly present in the now. Whether that’s through mindfulness, yoga, a very active lifestyle, walks in the park, whatever it is, life is meant to be lived, not scrolled away.

So, what gives, then? Why BeReal? I’m sure my choice to install it and write about it seems perplexing, but I had a perfect reason to do so. BeReal advertises itself as a social media app that’s breaking the trend of fake exhibitionism. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and many others are about presenting a reality that doesn’t exist. It’s manufactured to the author’s liking to the point where reality is unacceptable and touched-up is the new norm. BeReal promises to change that.