Facebook Take a Break vs. Unfollow vs. Unfriend: How Do They Differ

Mehvish Mushtaq is a computer engineer by degree. Her love for Android and gadgets led her to develop the first Android app for Kashmir. Known as Dial Kashmir, she won the prestigious Nari Shakti award from the President of India. She has been writing about technology for 6+ years and her favorite categories include how-to guides, explainers, tips and tricks for Android, iOS/iPadOS, social media, and web apps.

Arshmeet has been a tech tinkerer since childhood, but she realized her love for technology and writing about 5 years ago. Since then, she has been honing her skills and helping people figure out how things work, troubleshoot problems, choose the right app and products, and dig deep into the new and old concepts of technology. She is a self-professed Apple Enthusiast who loves debating what’s good and what’s not. It is her passion for finding techniques, hacks, apps, and products that make everyday life simpler.

What Does Unfriend Mean on Facebook?

Unfriend is the oldest option on Facebook to stop communicating with someone. When you unfriend a person, you are removed from each other’s friends list. It’s a two-way feature. Even if the other person unfriends, the repercussions will be the same for both. That is, you both can’t see other’s private posts — both the future and the past.

What Does Unfollow Mean on Facebook?

Unfollowing is mildly unfriending someone without letting them know. You are not unfriending a person, but when you unfollow someone, you will not see their posts on your timeline. However, they can still see your posts. It’s a way to hide someone’s post from appearing on your timeline.

What Does Take a Break Mean on Facebook?

Take a breakis designed to help you literally take a break from someone on Facebook. It consists of unfollowing them and adding them to therestricted list.

By taking a break, three things happen. First, you cannot see the other person’s post on your feed (equivalent to Unfollow). Secondly, they can’t see your private posts too (equal to adding them to the Restricted list). Thirdly, you also get the privilege to delete the past posts that happened between you two or keep them intact.

The interesting thing about this feature is that you can let one or two things happen and keep the third intact. You can choose what you want to do with this feature. Whatever your decision, all that happens without unfriending the other person. That is, they remain on your friends’ list.

Now that you have got a brief idea about each feature, let’s see what happens to various things on Facebook when you use one of those three.

What Happens to News Feed Updates?

Unfriend

Being in each other’s friends list plays an important role in viewing private posts on Facebook. So once you unfriend someone, you will not see each other’s updates in your news feed. Visiting their profile will also not help unless the post setting is set to public. That is, both of you will only see the public posts when you open their profile. Both the existing and future private posts will be hidden.

Unfollow

The basic functionality of the Unfollow feature is to hide the other person’s future updates from your feed. That is, the posts won’t appear automatically on your feed. However, when you visit the unfollowed person’s profile, you can still see those posts if their privacy setting allows it.

But, unfollowing doesn’t change anything from your end for them. That is, your posts will still appear in their feed and on your timeline if they wish to check. It only hides their updates from your view.

Take a Break

As mentioned before, the Take a Break feature lets you customize its settings. It lets you stop seeing someone’s post on your feed and hide your posts from their view.

When you select the former, Facebook will automatically unfollow the person, and the things mentioned above for Unfollow will continue to remain true for Take a break. That is, their posts will not show up on your feed.

Similarly, if you enable the second option, the person will be added to your Restricted list. After that, the person can’t see your posts on their feed and on your timeline. Only if a post is public will it be visible.

What Happens to Facebook Stories?

Similar to news feed updates, unfriending someone takes away the power to view each other’s stories. The story won’t appear on your feed, either. However, if a story is public and you happen to visit the other person’s profile, you can view it.

In the case of Unfollow, the other person’s stories will not appear in your feed. But you can view them by visiting that person’s profile. Your stories will be visible to them.

When it comes to taking a break, it depends on two things. If you limit their posts, their stories will also not appear for you. And, if you limit your posts, they cannot see your stories even if they visit your profile. That’s how Restricted lists work.

Posting on the Wall

When you unfriend someone, you lose the power to communicate with them in terms of wall posts. That is, you can’t publish anything on their wall. The same holds true from their side too. Meaning, they cannot post on your wall.

The Unfollow or Take a Break feature doesn’t affect the ability to publish on each other’s walls. You can still post on the other person’s wall if their privacy setting allows that.

Can You Like and Comment?

Similar to wall posts, both of you lose theability to commentor like the private posts of the other person when you unfriend them because you cannot see them. However, if a post is public, you can like or comment on them. Again, it depends on the individual privacy setting for letting your followers comment on your posts.

In the case of Unfollow and Take a Break, the other person can comment or like a post if it is visible.

Can You Message Each Other?

In all three cases, you can still message each other. None of the options affects your conversation on Facebook Messenger.

What Happens to Past Posts?

Unfriending someone hides their past posts from each other unless they are public. However, unfollowing a person does not affect past posts, meaning you can still view each other’s previous posts.

In the case of Take a break, you are offered three options regarding past posts between you two. You can keep them as they are or edit their privacy settings individually. Alternatively, you can delete all the past posts.

Where Can You Use These Facebook Features?

How Long Does Each Feature Last?

All three features last until you revoke them manually. Meaning, one of you will have to add the other person again when you use the unfriend option. Similarly, you must follow the person again to receive their updates in your feed. The Take a Break feature also continues until you undo it.

If you are looking for something temporary,use the Facebook Snooze feature. It has all the features of Unfollow, but it lasts for 30 days only.

Do Others Know When You Use These Options?

Well, it depends. While Facebook doesn’t notify the other person about the three options, one might get suspicious.

When unfriending someone, it’s apparent that their profile will seem locked, and you will see the Add Friend button.Find outwho unfriended you on Facebook.

Unfollowing someone isn’t easy to detect, but if you used to like or comment on their posts, then they might sense something is wrong.

When it comes to Take a Break, they can confirm from a mutual friend if your posts are visible to them. However, if you limit their posts from showing up on your feed, the absence of liking or commenting on their posts might make things apparent.

You Should Break Free

If you don’t want the other person to see your posts and you are okay with not seeing theirs, but you also don’t want to block them, you can unfriend them.

If you are bothered by someone’s posts, you can unfollow them. That way, you will not have to fry your brains by reading their posts, which will happen without unfriending them. Unfriending or blocking someone can come across as too harsh to avoid someone. So, you should take a break from them on Facebook.

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Last updated on 27 August, 2024

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