The popular app known as “BeReal” has been installed on 53 million phones as of Oct. 2022. The innovative app puts a twist on social media, trying to eliminate the “fake” side of social media and clearly, it’s catching on. 

One of the features of BeReal includes a dual camera, capturing both the front and back sides of a person’s world. The camera duo involved in BeReal allows teens to show what they look like and where they are. Commonly seen on a teenager’s phone, the app has also made waves among CHS students. Junior Mikela Verdugo, shares her experience with BeReal. 

“I think that BeReal helps encourage kids to be themselves by taking one picture a day to show what they are doing at the moment,” Verdugo said. 

Another innovative characteristic of BeReal is the timed camera. BeReal goes off at a random time every single day. Across campus, students pick up their phones as they get their BeReal alert and scramble to post within the two-minute timer. So what happens if you don’t post at the assigned time? Well, BeReal lets everyone know that you posted your picture late under your photo, and therefore your friends can see you weren’t “Being Real”. Not only is BeReal making social media more realistic, but it also has inspired communication and created memories for teens.

“The app has become really popular with high schoolers because many people take their BeReals at school events, football games, dances, etc,” Verdugo said.

The app additionally creates an automatic album made every month including every BeReal picture from each day. By the end of the year, students are able to look back on every day of every month. Teens are falling in love with how BeReal preserves high school memories and allows them to remember even the slightest details of their day. Lauren Lorentzen, a sophomore at Carlsbad High uses BeReal to capture some of her most memorable moments from high school. 

“You can really look back and reflect on parts in your day that you probably otherwise wouldn’t remember or even think about,” Lorentzen said. 

Many complaints surrounding social media include the unrealistic aspect that it brings. On Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, teens are able to manipulate how they look and choose to post their best moments. BeReal brings a new experience to teens’ phones, one where the reality of students’ lives is easily accessible. 

“It shows people in their real moments in life and it was a super unexpected app that came out, but you could really show things that were actually happening actively in your life,” Lorentzen said.

Students and teens around the world are experiencing a modern form of social media. BeReal gives your friends a view into your life and vice versa.  As you walk around campus, listen for the notification students receive once a day for BeReal.  The chime is likely followed by students crowding together to capture where they are, what they are doing, and what they look like before the two-minute timer runs out. 

“BeReal helps encourage kids to be themselves by taking a picture a day to show what they are actually doing… in the moment,” Verdugo said. 

In addition to preserving high school memories and creating a platform for more realistic forms of social media, Be Real also has helped produce funny experiences students will remember forever. 

“My favorite BeReal memories are from football games because you can see everyone enjoying themselves and going crazy in the stands,” Verdugo said. 

What many adults don’t know when asked to take a student’s BeReal is that the camera will eventually flip back on them. So staff, teachers, adults, and parents, always are on guard for an innocent BeReal, and remember to smile for the camera!

“One time one of my teachers took a BeReal for my whole class and it was so funny because we all got together in the picture and then my teacher’s face was in it when the camera flipped,” Lorentzen said. “It will definitely be a memory I will laugh at and always look back at,” Lorenzen said.