The Park High School class of 2026 has lived through many new experiences, such as COVID-19, the flood of 2022, and wildfires that ravaged our lands. However, one of the most well-known is the rise of social media. The seniors have experienced trend after trend, learning along the way what works, and what doesn’t. One of the biggest trends that marked the beginning of our four years in high school was an app called BeReal.

BeReal was released in December of 2019 and increased its popularity in the early months of 2022. The app was created to promote authenticity by sharing unfiltered, daily photos.

Once a day the app will prompt the user that it’s “Time to BeReal!” The user then has two minutes to take a photo of what they are doing at that moment, and share it for their friends to see.

Through the senior’s freshman year, they had many encounters in taking BeReals and getting into this trendy new app. Senior Will Hoiness said “I started using BeReal my freshman year. I think everyone using it was what made it so popular. I think that BeReal was helpful in pulling people together.”

Many study halls, earth science classes, and spanish classes left time for the BeReal to be taken. Memories of taking BeReals with Spanish teacher Ms. Ramm were some of the most prevalent for many seniors.

Over the last four years, BeReal has had a great decrease in its popularity among Gen-Z and today’s teens. Many are now more focused on apps such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. However, there are a select few who still choose to use the app and participate in the two-minute countdown. Apps such as Instagram have also released new app updates to replicate BeReal such as “Instants.”

BeReal will live on to be a major trend mark of the Class of 2026’s freshman year at Park High. Those two minutes will forever live on.