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What Does “Take a Break” Mean on Facebook?
Facebook’s “Take a Break” feature basically lets you control whose posts you see in your news feed as well as who can see the posts from your account.
Using the feature, you can make Facebook stop displaying someone’s posts in your feed. This may be good for you if you aren’t on good terms with someone anymore but don’t want to completely block or unfriend them. You can also limit that person’s access to your Facebook profile.
Additionally, you can choose who can see the posts in which both you and that other person are tagged. Facebook doesn’t notify the user that you’ve used the “Take a Break” feature for their profile.
How to Use Facebook’s “Take a Break” Feature
To start using the feature, launch a web browser on your computer and open the Take a Break web page. Sign in to your Facebook account if you aren’t already.
On the Take a Break page, click the text box and type the name of the person for whom you want to use the feature. When that person appears on the list, select them.
On the following screen, you’ll see three options. Here, choose what you’d like to do with the selected person’s profile. We’ll go through each option below.
If you’d like to stop seeing the person’s posts in your feed, choose “See Less of [Person Name]’s Profile.”
Hide the selected account’s posts in your news feed by enabling the “Limit Where You See [Person Name]’s Profile.” Then click “Save.”
If you want to control what the other person can see on your profile, select the “Limit What [Person Name]’s Profile Will See” option.
To make your posts invisible to the selected user (unless you’ve tagged that person), turn on the “Hide Your Posts From [Person Name]’s Profile” option and click “Save.”
Remember that your posts set to Public will be visible to this user.
The last option lets you change the visibility of the posts in which both you and the selected person are tagged. Access this option by clicking “Edit Who Can See Past Posts.”
If you’d like to individually change the privacy of your posts, choose “Edit Individual Posts.” Facebook will launch a web page in a new tab in your browser. On this page, you can see as well as manage the privacy settings for all your posts.
To hide all your posts from everyone except for the tagged people, enable “Edit All My Posts and Posts I’m Tagged In.” This will untag you from the posts in which you and the other person are tagged, and remove the posts you and the other person have made on each other’s timelines.
When you’re done, save your changes by clicking “Save.”
Back on the “Take a Break” window, in the bottom-right corner, click “Done.”
And you’re all set.
While you’re at it, consider changing some of your Facebook privacy settings to keep your privacy in your hands.
RELATED: 7 Important Facebook Privacy Settings to Change Right Now