There you are, scrolling down your feed and minding your own business, and a video someone you knew back in high school shared just sommer starts playing.

Turns out you don’t have to sign up for that instant video playing nonsense, but you do have to opt out.

Given how much we fork out for mobile data in the country, you would be wise to choose which videos you actually want to watch on your phone.

[That, and the fact that I actually don’t care for that cute cat compilation video, Janice from high school who now lives in Port Alfred.]

Luckily Mashable have all the details to send you on your data-saving ways:

Desktop:

Click the downward carrot icon in the upper righthand corner of the home screen, and select “Settings.” Choose “videos” from the menu on the far left, then switch the setting for “Auto-Play Videos” to “Off.”

Mobile (iOS):

In Facebook’s iOS app, select the icon of three lines in the lower right corner, then Settings>Account Settings>Videos and Photos>Autoplay, and select “Never Autoplay Videos.”

Mobile (Android)

The steps for Android are the same except the autoplay option is in the first settings menu.

Take that, people who insist on sharing those ‘hilarious’ prank videos that are two minutes of our lives we will never get back.

Consider your data, and some of your online friendships, saved.

[source:mashable]