Although Facebook is a great way to keep you connected to the people who matter, it’s normal to feel the need to take a break from it every once in a while. Facebook makes it easy to take a break with its temporary deactivation feature.
If a temporary break isn’t enough, however, you can still delete your account permanently. Just keep in mind permanent deletion is just that, permanent, so be sure that’s the action you want to take.
Whether you want to take a break or permanently delete your account, we’ve got you covered. Read on to figure out what the best option for you is.
What does it mean to deactivate a Facebook account?
First things first: What exactly does deactivating your Facebook account do? There are two routes you can take when deactivating your Facebook account.
The first is permanent deactivation, which means that if you change your mind after deactivating your account, you will not get it back. You will have to create an entirely new account without the friends, posts, messages, and interactions you had accumulated in your previous account.
The second route is temporary deactivation, which means your account will temporarily disappear from Facebook, but you can get it back the moment you log back in with your credentials. And all your posts, messages, friends and interactions remain intact.
During temporary deactivation, it will be as if you’ve deleted your account because your friends won’t be able to tag you in photos and posts, and they won’t have the option to message you on Facebook Messenger. Your profile won’t even be found via search. This, of course, can all be reverted when you log back in again.
Can you pause Facebook without deactivating it?
The answer is: yes! There are actually three ways you can “pause” Facebook without having to bother with going to the deactivation screen.
First, you can disable Facebook’s notifications, either on desktop or on mobile. This way, you will not see any updates from the application. You’ll have to remember to reset your settings, however, if you do want to be notified again.
Second, you can log off the mobile or desktop Facebook application. When you log off, you will simply not be notified either, and it’s easy to log back in.
Finally, you can simply uninstall the Facebook app from your mobile phone or block Facebook using a page-blocking browser extension. As they say, out of sight, out of mind.
All these steps can be easily switched back if you want to go back to your current Facebook routines.
Deactivating only certain features of Facebook
What if you actually need certain features of Facebook but can live without the rest? Thankfully, there is a way to also “pause” individual Facebook features you may not want to deal with, focusing only on the features that matter to you. Deactivating Facebook Messenger without deactivating Facebook
You can’t, by definition, “deactivate” Facebook Messenger without first deactivating your Facebook account. However, there are a few workarounds you can do.
First, you can disable notifications by going to your phone’s settings and going into the Notifications menu. From there, you can disable your Facebook Messenger’s notifications from popping up.
Second, you can uninstall your Facebook Messenger app.
Disabling Facebook Dating
If you’ve tried Facebook Dating and want to opt out of it, you can choose to delete your Facebook Dating profile. Don’t worry, this action will not touch your regular Facebook profile, but you’ll lose all the data related to your Facebook Dating profile, such as matches, answers and conversations.
You can delete your Facebook Dating profile by doing the following:
- Go to your Facebook app then navigate to the Dating portion of the app by tapping the hamburger menu icon. You can see this on the left sidebar if you’re on your desktop’s browser.
- Tap the Settings icon on the upper right corner.
- Tap General.
- Scroll down and tap Delete Profile.
- Tap Delete.
Take note that this deletion is permanent. You will have to create a new dating profile if you want to try Facebook Dating again.
Disabling notifications for Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace can be quite a burden when it comes to notifications, especially when you’re constantly receiving them from sellers. Thankfully, you can also disable notifications specific to Facebook Marketplace by following these instructions:
- Navigate to the Marketplace within the Facebook App by tapping the hamburger menu icon. You can see this on the left sidebar if you’re on your desktop’s browser.
- Once on the Marketplace, tap on the icon that looks like a person, then tap on the Settings icon.
- Tap Manage Notifications.
- Tap on the notification category you’d like to turn on or off. There are many, including updates, saved searches and tips for sellers.
Remember that you can toggle your notifications back on by going back to this menu.
Temporarily Deactivating Your Facebook Account Without Deleting It
If disabling your notifications, logging off, and uninstalling your Facebook application just won’t do the job for you – if you want yourself to disappear from people’s timelines, photo tags, and conversations for a while – then this might be the time to consider temporarily deactivating your Facebook account.
Follow these steps for that much-needed pause:
- Go to Settings & Privacy from either the hamburger menu (on mobile) or the dropdown menu on the upper right of your page (Desktop).
- Select Settings.
- Click Your Facebook Information in the left column (or simply scroll down to this header on mobile).
- If you’re on mobile, you have to do the extra step of tapping Account Ownership and Control.
- Now both mobile and desktop can select Deactivation and Deletion.
- Choose Deactivate Account, then choose Continue to Account Deactivation.
And voila! After, perhaps, a password check, your account will be successfully deactivated, accessible to you only if you log back in on Facebook.
Fully Deleting and Deactivating Your Facebook Account
Fully deleting your account means there are no take backs – you will have to create a brand new account and start from scratch if ever you do want to come back to a Facebook account, so make sure that you really, really want to do this.
Follow these steps to delete your Facebook account forever:
- Go to Settings & Privacy from either the hamburger menu (on mobile) or the dropdown menu on the upper right of your page (Desktop).
- Select Settings.
- Click Your Facebook Information in the left column (or simply scroll down to this header on mobile).
- If you’re on mobile, you have to do the extra step of tapping Account Ownership and Control.
- Now both mobile and desktop can select Deactivation and Deletion.
- Choose Delete Account, then choose Continue to Account Deletion.
Once you enter your password into a final prompt, your account is gone without a trace.
If you know of another tip or trick on how to “pause” Facebook or any other Facebook-related tidbits, drop them in the comments.
Cheers!
-Sean