--- description: Because we all need a break title: How to Turn Off Everything You Hate About Facebook image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a9d5d4d679a6e53/6987eece524fc0736edf09b1/ap772444855754-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How to Turn Off Everything You Hate About Facebook by [Mike Wehner / Daily Dot](/author/daily-dot/) ## Mike Wehner / Daily Dot Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2015 10:00 AM CUT  Facebook logo on an iPhone. Facebook logo on an iPhone.Lukas Schulze—picture-alliance/dpa/AP by [Mike Wehner / Daily Dot](/author/daily-dot/) ## Mike Wehner / Daily Dot Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2015 10:00 AM CUT [Facebook](http://www.dailydot.com/communities/facebook/ "undefined") can be a real hassle. It lets your friends spam you with annoying app invites, tells all your contacts when you’re online so they can harrass you, and bugs you about your old coworkers’ birthdays even though you haven’t seen them in three years. Facebook is a classic oversharer. The good news is there’s a way to get Facebook to quiet down. The bad news is, well, there isn’t any bad news. In fact, all of these things might get you to love Facebook; it’s really an invaluable utility for most of us—and one that can be enlightening, funny, and interesting. But before it can be those things, you have to turn off all the things that annoy you. Luckily, that’s just a click of a few buttons away, so let’s get started. ## App invites Invitations to install apps or join games are the number one most frustrating feature of Facebook. Depending on how addicted your friends have become to the time-sucking titles on the site, you could be bombarded with invites on a daily basis, and most apps make it way too easy to spam an entire friends list with annoying alerts. It’s time to put an end to this nightmare. Open your Settings screen on the Facebook Web client and click on the “Blocking” tab on the left sidebar. Under the heading “Block App Invites,” type in the name or names of anyone on your friends list who needs their app invite privileges revoked. You may also laugh maniacally while doing this, though that is entirely optional. You can use this same page to block specific apps from contacting you entirely (goodbye forever, _Mafia Wars_!), and even prevent your friends from sending you event invitations, though those are typically far less frequent than the app invites we all know and loathe. _This story was originally published at the_ [_The Kernel, the Daily Dot’s Sunday magazine_](http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/12750/how-to-block-facebook-notifications/&utm%5Fmedium=syndication&utm%5Fsource=Time&utm%5Fname=time%20syndication "undefined")_._ [_Read the rest of the story at_ ](http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/12750/how-to-block-facebook-notifications/&utm%5Fmedium=syndication&utm%5Fsource=Time&utm%5Fname=time%20syndication "undefined")[_The Kernel_](http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/12750/how-to-block-facebook-notifications/&utm%5Fmedium=syndication&utm%5Fsource=Time&utm%5Fname=time%20syndication "undefined")_._ ### This Is What Your Facebook Profile Looked Like Over the Last 11 Years  The Original Facebook Group Page, 2004\. Before people realized how awesome pictures are. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2005\. Back when Facebook looked a little bit like MySpace. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page Facelift, 2005\. The "the" is finally dropped. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2006\. You no longer need to be reminded "this is you" at the top of your profile page. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2007\. Every profile update still had to begin with "is," forcing you to talk about yourself in the third person. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2008\. The wall. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2009\. It only took five years for Facebook to create easy-to-find privacy settings. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2010\. Facebook starts to get pretty. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2011\. Zuckerberg realizes that people love pictures, usually of animals. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2012\. The timeline allows you (or your parents) to trace your life from birth to death. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2013-2014\. Facebook introduced a new app, Paper, on Monday. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2014-2015\. Facebook updated both the newsfeed algorithm and the privacy settings. Courtesy of Alex Fitzpatrick/Facebook ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3850530/turn-off-facebook-alerts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3850530/turn-off-facebook-alerts/"},"headline":"How to Turn Off Everything You Hate About Facebook","datePublished":"2015-05-08T10:00:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:44:50.882Z","description":"Because we all need a break","url":"https://time.com/3850530/turn-off-facebook-alerts/","keywords":["Tech","Social Media","facebook"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a9d5d4d679a6e53/6987eece524fc0736edf09b1/ap772444855754-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mike Wehner / Daily Dot"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a9d5d4d679a6e53/6987eece524fc0736edf09b1/ap772444855754-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Facebook logo on an iPhone 5s.","caption":"Facebook logo on an iPhone 5s.","creditText":"Lukas Schulze—picture-alliance/dpa/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3850530/turn-off-facebook-alerts/","name":"How to Turn Off Everything You Hate About Facebook"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Zuckerberg: Facebook Won’t Add A Dislike Button","description":"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company is working to give users a way to express more sentiment, but the dislike button won’t be the way to do it.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vLViT2dY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-12T14:34:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vLViT2dY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3850530/turn-off-facebook-alerts/","duration":"PT1M17S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3850530/turn-off-facebook-alerts/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```