When looking back on past years, things people tend to remember are trends. Whether it be the whip and nae nae or the mannequin challenge, trends are some of the most core memories of today’s generation. One of today’s biggest trends is the social media app, BeReal. BeReals straightforward purpose is to take a photo every day at a random time (chosen by the app) in real-time. The goal is to see the authenticity of people’s lives and for them to “be real”, but is it actually being used for its intended purpose?

The Good Side to BeReal

When asking Alison Daly, a sophomore at Pentucket High School, her opinions on the app, she said, that she thought the app was a positive environment.

“I think it’s a pure way to see what our friends are doing at that moment in time, and we get to react to them. It’s not something that is toxic.” 

Alison first got the app because some of her friends told her to, and, since then, she has frequently used it. However, Alison, like many others, doesn’t post the picture on the first try and sometimes doesn’t even post it at all. 

“I don’t want people to see me if I look bad, and I feel like if I don’t have friends around it gets kind of boring,” Alison states as she explains her reasoning.

Although the purpose of the app is to be your true self in that moment, Dom Tambe, a senior, has another view of why it’s okay to retake your photo. 

“When I take a BeReal it becomes part of my memories. I want to have fun with it. Make it something worth looking at,” Dom says.

On this side of BeReal, the app is seen as only a place to have fun and connect with your friends. It promotes positivity for its users to be honest about their lives, and, overall, the app’s rules are not as strict as people make them out to be. People want to live everyday like the best of their lives and want to feel more connected with the people around them. But is there another side to this story?

The Bad Side to BeReal

Though the app is seen as a positive environment by many, others have a difference of opinion. Delaney Meagher, a sophomore at Pentucket High School, sees the app in a different light. 

“I think BeReal is dumb. I’ve had it before because my friend advised me to get it, but it just feels like stalking people,” she explains.

Delaney brings up the point of how strange it is for people stop their whole day just to take a photo. And though the point is to take one photo and be done, it will actually consume more time than it’s worth.  

Bella Huggins, a sophomore at Pentucket Regional, also states, “No matter what the app’s purpose is, it is still fake no matter how real you strive to make it.”

If people want to be real, than they will, and if not, then they won’t, since it is easy to lie behind social media. 

On this side of BeReal, the app is seen as just another dumb thing that the world would be better without. Adding more social media to the world is only a negative occurrence that will lead to problems in the future. For example, the app is another way hackers can steal information without the person ever knowing. It can also make people feel bad about themselves by being left out for not having friends constantly around them like the majority of the app makes it look like.

In the end, whether people love BeReal or hate it, everyone can agree that the hype and popularity of the app will eventually die down. People gave ranges varying from months to a year on the estimated time the app will be considered “just another trend.”

Bella Huggins states, “trends come and go by the week, the month, and the year. Nothing is ever permanent.” In a couple of years, everyone will look back on the year 2022 and remember and laugh at the memories of the once sensational app, BeReal.