Fast facts on BeReal as it grows in popularity–perhaps in your family. As parents better understand BeReal they can promote self-regulation development.
- BeReal is an app that encourages sharing real moments (not just selected highlights). At random times, it sends an alert to users to take a picture of what they’re doing right then and there. The camera captures a front and back view, showing exactly what the user is doing and potentially who they are with.
- There is now a “streak” feature, similar to Snapchat. Users must share a BeReal post every single day to continue the streak, which appears as the number of days with the fire emoji. If you are close to losing your streak, there will be an attention-grabbing notification that will alert you of this and pressure you to log in and take a picture to save the streak.
- BeReal is meant to show real aspects of people’s day-to-day lives. This feature highlights the idea that people often use social media to showcase only the positive parts of their lives while hiding their negative emotions and moments of exhaustion.
- BeReal has a public feature for viewing others’ BeReals posts worldwide. Users must select this option for their post to be publicly visible. For all other posts, a friend-request-acceptance is required.
- BeReal’s notifications create tension by design. Since the notification is triggered at a random time each day, many users feel the pressure of having to be available to take their BeReal photos at any given moment. This can be particularly challenging when users are in school, at work, or even late at night. The constant anticipation often adds stress to users’ daily routines.
-iParent101 Team