With over 28 million downloads worldwide, BeReal has taken the social media scene by storm. The new social media app that blew up over this past summer has spread like wildfire on teens’ phones across the world as it seems every teen wants to get in on the BeReal action. I, along with almost all of my friends, make sure to drop everything when I see that BeReal notification and post as fast as I can. 

The goal of the organization that runs the BeReal app is to eliminate people faking their lives and showing the absolute best versions of themselves on social media. The appeal of the app is that it’s social media, but without all the toxicity. The way the app works is that once a day, at a random time, everyone who owns the app will get a notification saying, “Time to BeReal”. Once that notification goes off, everyone has two minutes to post a picture from both their front and back cameras. There’s no penalty for posting late, but the app will let everyone know that you are, in fact, not being real.

The question that arises now is, what happens when the BeReal notification goes off during school? Is it appropriate to stop what you’re doing in the middle of class and post your BeReal? I believe posting can wait until the end of the school day. 

Posting your BeReal while in the middle of class can be distracting to the lesson and disrespectful to the teacher. When something distracts me during a lesson, it is hard to start paying attention again and catch up on all the things that were taught while I was distracted. I know that this can be the case for other students in this school as well. 

Posting a BeReal in class can not only be distracting, but it is also disrespectful to the teacher. By posing for a picture while the teacher is in the middle of teaching the class, you are showing that you don’t care about what they’re teaching. This is extremely disrespectful and can be easily avoided. 

Although it is true that BeReal tells everyone that you are posting late, at the end of the day, no one really cares, so there is no real downside to posting late. Putting down your phone and waiting to post your BeReal until the end of the school day, or when you have free time will show that you respect your teacher and will eliminate unnecessary distractions.