Above 63

It Surprised Me

I have many friends who have left social media. When they tell me this, I have no objection for them. I can think of many good reasons to walk away. Their decision always seems logical and sound.
I haven’t followed them out the door — yet. I’m not sure I will. I still like the “social” part of it. But as my friends opt out of sharing what is happening in their lives, the social aspect becomes less and less.
However, there is one platform I truly like: BeReal.. I think BeReal is brilliant. (https://bereal.com/)

What is It? Why I use it.

BeReal is a simple app that randomly alerts me once a day (and everyone else on the app) that it is time to “BeReal.” That means I have two minutes to take a photo of myself and wherever I happen to be. Naturally, this isn’t always convenient, so you can be “late” and there is no penalty for this–but I find it more fun to be on time. You can also choose to not post if you don’t want to. No penalty, no judgement.
Sounds wacky I know, but I like it.
I enjoy and use it for 2 reasons.
First, when my friends post, I enjoy seeing them in a random moment. Some live far away and don’t share much on social media, yet here I get to see their face regularly and know they are okay. It’s comforting.
Second — and this is all about me — I like the visual diary it creates. My posts are mostly dull. Me in my office. Me in the living room. Me on the sidewalk. Occasionally the alert finds me somewhere unusual or extraordinary, and that can be fun. If I’m late, I try not to be flashy or stage something interesting. I prefer to be ordinary.

Authentic Moments but not Permanent Moments

Although you can stage a little bit in two minutes, you are more or less who you are at that moment. The photos are not choreographed. They are rarely good photography. But they are real–and that’s the point.
I get to see my friends as they actually are in that moment, and they see me the same way. It probably matches how we know each other as ordinary people.
The one catch: if you don’t post, you can’t see what your friends are up to. I have friends who post about once a month. I think that’s great. I see them once a month. My friends look good — but not posed. Here are some candid moments:

I also have some moments where the alert has gone off and I am in a spectacular place or moment. That can be fun because it brings back some of the magic of the early days of social media when sharing being someplace special at that moment was a thing. Here are a few:

Recaps and Remembering

Even without social media how we remember the world is curated. We shoot a lot of photos with our phones, but usually to capture bigger moments we want to remember–not the ordinary ones that will soon drift out of our minds. If you use an online image service the algorithm curates your moments into neat packages that match our original curation. However if you have authentic moments, you have an authentic recap.
When my 2025 recap appeared, I found myself remembering simple, pleasant, and otherwise forgettable moments. I could see the arc of my year — the ordinary and the extraordinary — and understand, on a personal level, how the year had gone. (2025 was good to me.) You can check it out at the end of the page below. I did share this on social media and a few of my friends noted their appearances along the way.

How I Discovered BeReal

When I was teaching in 2023, I was reading in the Wall Street Journal about this new social media platform that was growing faster than any other. Since I was sure my students would be using this, I downloaded it and started to dabble in it. Once I had it figured out, I went into my classes that day and asked: “So, what do you all think about BeReal?”
Silence followed. With a few more questions I discovered that they had never heard of it.
That was the day the Boomer taught GenZ about the hottest social media platform and how to use it. At graduation that spring several students were giving me high Fives because I had taught them this. My faculty colleagues were confused, but not surprised that I was experimenting with something like this.

An invitation

To be honest, I was skeptical about BeReal (https://bereal.com/) when I heard about it. I knew I wanted to talk about it in class, but I thought once I did, I would send it to the “scrapheap of social media left behind.” But if you are reading this, I invite you to give it a try. When I started I didn’t “friend” anyone I just used the app. See what it is like to shoot a photo of yourself and where you are once a day.
If you don’t like that–don’t continue.
Social media should be “social” and maybe a little fun.
If you do like it, try it with friends or family.
Feel free to connect with me (https://bere.al/choropleth)

My 2025 Recap