How to control the ads that Facebook shows you

Quitting Facebook is not a realistic option for many people. But if you're tired of feeling Facebook constantly listening to your conversations, there's a way to limit the social network's ability to target you with ads.

You can hide ad topics, limit the parts of your information that advertisers can use and prohibit Facebook from using partner data for targeting, and so on.

I've virtually disabled all possible ways for Facebook advertisers to target me. The ads I see in my news feed are all relevant to two main things: my age and the fact that I live in the United States.

I'm getting an badortment of more random ads, but Facebook is feeling a lot less scary now. I will also show you how to control your ads.

• Go to the Facebook site or open the application (I recommend the site because it is easier to control more).
• Tap Settings from the drop-down menu at the top right.
• Choose "Ads" on the far left.

This is going to be your main control panel for my guide. But let's start by turning off three items in the "Ads Settings" section.

• The first option, "Partner Data Based Ads," will limit ads based on data that Facebook has obtained from you from your partners. Press to change it to "not allowed".
• The second one is called "ads based on your activity on the products of the Facebook company you see elsewhere". If you disable this option, you will limit the ads you see on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Press to turn it off.
• Finally, "Ads that include your social actions", allows you to prevent Facebook from using your name and preferences for ads shown to your friends and family. Turn off this too.

You must also limit the details that Facebook can use to target ads. To do this, you only need to check two other sections in Facebook's ad settings.

• In the "Your Information" section of Facebook's announcement settings, you can disable the ability of the social network to use your relationship status, your business, your job title, and your training for ads. Enter and be sure to disable anything you do not want to share.
• Now, tap "Hide Ad Topics". Here you can disable ads that specifically target three topics: alcohol, parenting and pets. You can hide ads for six months, a year, or permanently.

To date, you've done a lot to limit the targeting of ads on Facebook, but you can do a lot more. It just takes time. To get started, go to the "your categories" section of the "your information" section of the ad controls.

Here you will find a list of the ways that Facebook has categorized you. This may mean that you are a "bride", for example. You can delete these categories by clicking on each of them and selecting "delete category". Unfortunately, there is currently no way to delete all categories at the same time.

Then go to "advertisers and companies". This section allows you to limit the data that individual companies upload to Facebook to target you. The key section is "who downloaded and shared a list with your information." This section contains a list of companies who have uploaded ad targeting lists containing your data, such as your phone number or email address, to Facebook. These companies "may share the ability to advertise their ad on the list with advertisers on Facebook", but you have the power to limit that ability.

For each company, tap "View details," then "Advertisers using lists with your information." You can then select "hide all ads from its advertiser" for each of them. Do this for each advertiser.

Then tap the "advertisers and businesses" section. The key sections are "the website or application you may have used", "the ones you visited" and "the ads you clicked on". Tap each company that is hiding to hide its ads. You should also do so in the section called "who sent a list with your information and who was announced there".

The section that requires the most time is "your interests". Here, Facebook will have several categories, each containing dozens of interests "determined based on your activity on Facebook".

You may want to keep some interests. For the rest, just tap each to delete it.

It's hard to control the ads that Facebook shows you, but that could change soon.

Facebook has announced the launch of a new feature called Clear History later this year, which will allow users to better limit the targeting of ads. For now, the advertising preference tool is your best choice. It's powerful, you just need to know where to look.

WATCH: Here's how to find out which apps have access to your Facebook data – and cut them