Sam Harris touched on this idea in his book, Waking Up, which I highly recommend. There is a difference between observing life in the real world and watching a movie. When you sit down to watch a movie, you can ignore any concern about being observed as an observer. You can gaze into the eyes of someone on the screen from unbelievably close distances without feeling discomfort, as you would when doing so to a stranger in the real world. When we sit down to watch a movie, we let go of any primitive emotion or concern over the consequences of existing in a space with other conscious people. Thus, the immersion of a movie is unique. There's almost no distance between you and the setting and characters on the screen, yet you remain a ghost in their presence. The notion of a movie, put in these terms, is surprisingly dystopian despite being a massive media entertainment outlet. It's relatively safe to say that movies do not train your social skills. Yes, observing people converse may make a difference, but to what extent? Consider for a moment the oddity of social media. I'd argue that social media poses a similar, almost more dystopian, scenario. Once again, we are the ghosts and spectators of people existing, but the difference is that we know these people. We can click on someone's profile and observe the stories in their "stories" without social consequence. If you "followed" someone you had only met and conversed with briefly in real life, it would be mere moments before you found yourself pursued by law enforcement. You may follow people on social media without consequence, which is a strange concept to me. The point of social media drifts away from its core principles. Instead, it becomes an opportunity for you to internalize the feelings of a celebrity the way people you know (and don't) follow your activity. Not to mention that when you "comment" on someone's post, it's almost as if your comment must be worthy of others' attention. When was the last time you saw a comment on someone's post that read, "Hey [name]! It's good to see you're doing [activity]. Maybe we can catch up soon"? In this age, a comment like that would be misinterpreted despite having all the right intentions. I propose a simple fix. It may sound uncomfortable or "awkward," and I think that is good in a way; any of those feelings are natural consequences of actual social interaction. Bear with me. Imagine a platform that embodies the function of Be Real, where a massively executed event takes place at a random time each day for exactly half of the users. Let's say every user has "friends" that they add, and during the event, exactly half of the users are assigned to a random member of their friends list. During the event, they must send a video of three minutes in length to this friend, no more and no less. In the video, the user is meant to "catch up" with their friend by asking light-hearted questions or sharing a funny story that happened to them recently for the other party to respond to. The app could even have suggested questions that the user could try. The other half of the users can look forward to receiving a lovely note from perhaps an old friend, colleague, or classmate. When the note is received, they must respond by sending a three-minute video addressing specific questions or stories. Maybe the interaction goes well, igniting a phone call or a plan to meet in person later.  This approach encourages actually social media because the media in question requires you to exhibit real social skills that have implications for a receiving party. Gosh, how do you fill three whole minutes? I'd argue that the "awkwardness"  would be a beneficial uniform experience that users would admit at some point. Perhaps people would learn to be self-aware of the awkwardness and express how they feel or to be witty, or go off script and just start talking about something funny or an old memory with a friend. The requirement of three minutes is, while maybe unintuitive, intrinsically silly. It encourages you to only follow and connect with people you are genuinely willing to connect with instead of prioritizing an amassing of "followers." Through such, it encourages people not to be afraid to reach out and reconnect with old friends, family members, even those you wouldn't typically converse with on such a level.  It would be interesting to require a sense of deliberate use. It shouldn't be the case that someone sends a video and the other party chooses not to respond. Maybe they are suspended for a week for being inactive. Maybe each day, they must opt into the pool or opt-out, knowing each time it will be random. This approach discourages spectator behaviour. This platform is a step in the right direction. That is to say, I could genuinely see it becoming semi-popular in the modern age of social media. I actually feel as though this real interaction is what people *want* out of social media, and they have been tricked into a stranger, less social agenda. Of course, if social media were purely social, then the scheduled event would be a literal phone call instead of a video to send. For now, that is sadly far too futuristic a concept.