Parenting

Facebook’s ‘Snooze’ Button Is Here For Those Friends You Need To Mute For Awhile

by Cassandra Stone
Photo by studioEAST/Getty Images

Smash that Facebook snooze button to mute anyone, anytime

Have you ever scrolled through your Facebook feed and thought,”ugh” but the thought of unfriending people seems like too harsh or too permanent? Well, the new Facebook “snooze button” is here to make all of our passive-aggressive dreams come true!

Facebook is officially rolling out the “snooze” feature, which lets you mute a friend, page, or group for 30 days so you can be alleviated from their updates for a full month. The “snooze” tool, somewhat similar to the “unfollow” and “hide” options, will make its appearance on Facebook accounts this month.

Just think of all the valid uses for this thing — really, the potential here is limitless. Don’t want to see anymore updates from that one “wanderlust” family that’s on yet another dream vacation? Snooze. Not interested in reading the play-by-play of someone’s date night? Snooze. Oh, is it Birthday Month for your college roomate’s third son and they insist on celebrating in some manner every day? SNOOZE.

During The Election Season That Shall Not Be Named, many of us “unfollowed” several people we were too chicken to completely unfriend. This is perfect for that, for all politically-charged election seasons ahead. But I forgot I unfollowed some of those people, so I felt slightly bad I wasn’t seeing their posts for a long time when I eventually remembered.

That breastfeeding support group you joined during your first pregnancy that posts constant updates and questions about thrush and rashes? Snooze ’em. I joined a few “mommy” groups in my early days as a new, first-time mom. I’d just leave the groups entirely, but I had to answer a 47 item questionnaire and sign my name in blood to join in the first place — and I’m not done having kids yet, so they might come in handy again. But damn right I’mma snooze the hell out of them during back-to-school season.

With Snooze, you don’t have to unfollow or unfriend permanently. It just allows you to stop seeing someone’s posts for a short period of time. No one will ever know, and you’ll receive a reminder when your “snooze period” is about to end. You can also reverse it at any time.

If you find yourself smashing that snooze button more often than you do on a Monday morning, maybe it’s time to graduate to “unfriend.”