One of our goals is to keep you ahead of new trends, so here’s one to watch: There’s a new social media platform soaring in popularity with kids.

• It’s called BeReal — and it seems a heck of a lot healthier than the mindless scrolling and showing off on TikTok, Snap and Instagram.

Why it matters: BeReal has gained popularity as an antidote to the pressure young users now face to be creative and look perfect online. Kids post once each day and cannot doctor their photos.

• There's been a recent explosion in short-form video products like TikTok, Instagram Reels and Snapchat Spotlight that place a premium on users showing off their talents to friends and strangers alike, Axios media trends expert Sara Fischer tells us.
• If you have kids, you'd better study up on them because young people are using and abusing all three.
• Instagram has long been viewed as an environment that compels users to present an airbrushed, idealized version of their lives.

BeReal aims to do the opposite. The app, created in France, is gaining steam globally, per data from data.ai (formerly AppAnnie).

• Stunning stat: BeReal ranked 4th in downloads in the U.S., the U.K. and France for the first quarter for 2022, after Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. 55% of U.S. users are millennials, and 43% are Gen Z.

Here's how it works... The app prompts users to post a daily photo with two components: a selfie with the phone's front camera and a point-of-view shot with the back camera. It's your face plus what you're doing — in real time.

1. No filters: You can't throw flattering lighting or fake makeup on your photos to pretty them up. And you can't see the selfie view when you click the shot.
2. No cherry-picking: The app directs you to post at a random time, so you can't pick the coolest moment of your day to show off.
3. No lurking: You can't look at anyone else's daily photo until you post yours so you have to engage with friends instead of mindlessly scrolling.
4. No stalking: You can only view everyone's photo from that day, removing the pressure to curate a feed or grid with the most polished moments of your life.
5. No binging: The app — similar to the viral daily puzzle Wordle — only lets you, and everyone else, upload one photo a day.

Erica here. There's my BeReal post from today.

• It's a boring shot of my kitchen — something I'd never normally post.
• And there's an imperfect selfie — mid-conversation, no makeup, unposed — that I would never put up for judgement on Instagram or Facebook.

But it doesn't matter because today's BeReal feed is full of the same types of charmingly dull and refreshingly untouched photos of my friends.