Facebook is making it easier to recover from painful breakups

Dealing with painful breakups is hard enough as it is, but Facebook tends to make them infinitely worse by showing you all of the new comments and pictures that your ex posts, which makes it nearly impossible to forget about them. That no longer has to be the case, however, as the company will now ask you if you want to “take a break” from seeing posts from your ex whenever you change your relationship status to “single,” and will hide them if you choose.

Having to see your ex on Facebook may be one of the worst things about the site. But the company is determined to fix that, after launching a new tool on its mobile app to help users take the pain out of a relationship breakup. When you change your relationship status to ‘single,’ Facebook will ask if you want to ‘take a break’ from seeing pictures and posts of your ex. If you do, then their name won’t automatically appear when you’re writing a message or tagging friends in posts and photos. You also have the option of hiding certain things you post from your ex and can also limit people’s ability to see past posts where the two of you are together. ‘This work is part of our ongoing effort to develop resources for people who may be going through difficult moments in their lives,’ Facebook product manager Kelly Winters wrote in a blog post. ‘We hope these tools will help people end relationships on Facebook with greater ease, comfort and sense of control.’