Students at Holt High School are currently buzzing about this “new” form of social media, and it’s in the form of an app called BeReal. Why is it so popular? According to a few of these students, the general consensus is peer pressure. They usually get the app because their friends invite them, and they are happy to accept the offer.

BeReal, an app made by the French developers Alexis Barrey and Kevin Perreau, pings the user randomly once a day with a reminder to take a picture of what they’re doing at that moment. 

The app is very new, with the app being first published to the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in 2020. Most people at Holt High School downloaded it at the beginning of the 22-23 school year.

“[I downloaded it on] Sept. 3rd exactly,” Lillian Ramsey (‘26) said.

Once on the app, students had wildly different thoughts on the experience.

“I didn’t really use it because I thought it was stupid,” Emmalee Cusumano (‘26) said, “I didn’t understand it at first…and I found it weird that people were posting what they were doing in the moment.”

The first posts of a lot of people were also in wildly different places.

Ciara Cassady (‘26) said “[My first post was] at school,” while Ramsey said she was “in the car, driving home from camping,” and Cusumano saying “It was in my living room, and it was of my dog.”

In short, the conclusion seems to be that, while it’s not addicting to use, it does share the same traits as other social media programs, such as Instagram and Snapchat, such as the fact that the app spread like wildfire due to peer pressure, as stated at the beginning.