SPOKANE — BeReal, an app gaining traction with teenagers both worldwide and in the Inland Northwest, captures nonfabricated moments once daily.
The app flips the traditional method of photo-sharing on its head. Rather than having the user determine when is the perfect time for a photo, each day at a randomized time, BeReal users are met with a notification simultaneously alerting every user, worldwide, that a two-minute window to post a photo is open.
Willow Hall-Cottrill, an active social media user and Lewis and Clark student, said the best part about BeReal is keeping in touch with far-flung friends.
“I find it exciting that I can see what my friends are doing during the day. It’s especially fun if you have friends who live far away,” Hall-Cottrill said.
With the absence of filters, editing and the pressure to manufacture a false reality, BeReal offers a different take on photo-sharing . Instagram, TikTok, and VSCO allow users to bury their photos in filters, edits and touch-ups, encouraging users to fabricate a false reality.
BeReal, on the other hand, allows the user to capture the less exciting moments, such as the monotony of watching Netflix alone on a Friday night.
Hall-Cottrill, also an avid user of Instagram and TikTok, finds BeReal to be more restrictive creatively.
Its upside is its ability for connections, said Selena Parker-Parris, also a Lewis and Clark student.
“I find BeReal exciting because it makes me feel connected to my friends,” she said. “I get to see what they are doing even though I am not with them.
“There isn’t room to change the picture or make it better,” she added. “It is just a picture in the moment.”
