A dangerous drug is circulating. Not fentanyl, not cocaine, not even that dopamine you find when smelling good brisket. This drug is far more powerful. It’s called BeReal.
A notification lights up your phone.
“Time to BeReal,” it reads. “Two minutes left to capture a BeReal and see what your friends are up to!”
Once a day, the app’s users simultaneously pick up their phones and take a photo of whatever they are doing at the moment. Studying, walking to class, or even brushing their teeth.
In George Orwell’s “1984,” every home and business houses a “telescreen,” a two-way television found in each home or business so The Party can keep an eye on everything. BeReal founders Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Per must have gotten their ideas from Orwell, because when BeReal tells users to take a picture of their surroundings, they instinctively obey, sending a status update to their friends and the tech company.
Users always surrender to the app’s commands. This concerning feature serves to condition the people to serve arbitrary demands. The Chinese communist government uses the app WeChat to surveil its people, police their thoughts, and punish dissenters. It’s not far-fetched to think that an app, which demands users send simultaneous status updates, could wittingly or unwittingly prepare the people for tyranny.
But not to worry, users don’t always obey their phones. Sometimes, they take BeReals late or re-take them several times, in order to find the best angle or lighting. While this avoids the Orwellian issue of obeying an omniscient screen in one’s pocket, this defeats the entire purpose of the app.
The app is supposed to capture users in the moment. The proponents of BeReal claim this makes it more genuine than other forms of social media, like Snapchat. They also claim that because one only uses it once per day, it decreases addiction to social media.
But you can take a BeReal whenever you want, and as many times as you want. The only restraint is that it tells other users if you posted late or retook photos. If users normalize this, however, then there is no restraint at all. If one has such a mindset, the app functions like Snapchat. And suddenly, your BeReal has become a BeFake.
In fact, the app combines the functions of Snapchat and Instagram: BeReal features a photo feature like that of Snapchat and a scrolling function like that of Instagram. So the app has the same power to addict users as do other forms of social media.
Users shouldn’t fool themselves. This “alternative” app is simply more of the same social media. According to Statista, in 2019, 40% of American internet users ages 18 to 22 reported social media addiction. Why join that number in service of a mediocre app? It’s not worth it.
BeReal is neither more genuine nor less addictive than other forms of social media. And who knows, it could be the tool of a totalitarian regime. So be real, and don’t BeReal.
