Hot Take: BeReal Is Confusing

BeReal, the new social media platform that blew up last year, has caught my attention. All of my friends who are internet-savvy hopped on it immediately. But what was even more interesting was the way in which my notably anti-Instagram friends were on the same page as the others. Everyone was talking about it. Yet one’s initial discovery of it typically begins with someone near them saying:

“$h*t, it’s time to BeReal, guys!”

Suddenly phones are pointed in every direction. Just as you think you’re safe from an impromptu photo — because your friend is posing on the other end as if taking a selfie — you find the phone turned around and focused on you. Rather than the perfectly posed smiling shot you thought they took, the result is one featuring you, 10x bigger on the screen, from the most god-awful angle.

“Don’t worry, it’s just BeReal. So there’s like no one on there.”

This sentiment was relayed to me several times. And the scorn of it all caused me to resist hopping on the bandwagon until just a few months ago.

I’m not sure what inclined me, or rather who convinced me, but during one night out with friends I said, “Sure, I’ll be on board. The app’s premise seemed simple from an outside perspective; once a day, you get notified that it’s time to…