As Facebook finally starts to shrink, it’s become pretty normal not to use it that often. If you only check it once or twice a week, you might find out that your mom tagged you in an embarrassing photo or political meme five days ago and all your friends have been piling on. Here’s an idea: Temporarily deactivate Facebook. It’s really easy—here are Facebook’s instructions—and you won’t lose any of your data.




Eight years ago, this was called a “super-logoff,” and some teens and adults did it to maintain control over their profiles whenever they weren’t actively online. Deactivating your Facebook account doesn’t delete it, it just hides it from everyone until you re-activate.

If you’re really checked out of Facebook, but you don’t want to lose your account, you could just deactivate for weeks at a time, like during a job search. (Because your potential employer is definitely Facebook-stalking you.)


There’s a big downside: While you’re deactivated, you’re completely invisible. No one can message you, and no one can invite you to events. If that triggers your FOMO, you’re better off just editing all your privacy settings to contain the damage.