Phoebe Week 1: BeReal: A New Era of Social Media

 Social media has had such a negative impact on society and especially on the young generation of the world today. The intense pressure to meet society standards on these social media platforms is degrading. I constantly catch myself and my friends comparing our appearances to posts online that could have been completely edited and altered through filters. Platforms like Tik Tok, Snapchat, and Instagram encourage users to post what is considered a “perfect” image, only after edits and filters have been made. Even though all of these apps brew negativity and insecurities, millions of people subject themselves to them everyday. 

Last year, surprisingly, my grandmother asked me if I had heard of this new app called BeReal. She began explaining to me that this app provided a specific time each day where users have 2 minutes to post themselves without any edits or filters. I had never heard of this app before and neither had any of my friends. Fast forward to this year where countless of my classmates, friends, and kids my age have downloaded this app and participate in this daily post. BeReal is beginning a new era of social media. Hopefully a new time where people feel more comfortable posting themselves without comparing their appearance to others. I think that the app is a great way to break the stigma around young teens being influenced to use filters and edit photos before posting on social media. It's important at a young, impressionable age, that teenagers are taught positive body image and a strong sense of self. Do you have Be Real downloaded and if not, would you consider downloading it as an alternative to Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok?