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Bill O'Reilly offers apocalyptic warning about social media

Commentary: The former Fox News icon says America is getting "meaner" and people can't be trusted.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Visits FOX's "The O'Reilly Factor"

Worried about the state of America. Expressing it on Twitter.

Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images

Forget leaping to Facebook to tell people you love your spouse. Or even your puppy.

Don't even think about taking to Twitter to offer the opinion that Bernie Sanders is potty or the president is a loon.

Stick to trivial matters at all times. Because America's in a bad place.

No, these aren't my thoughts after a night on Twitter. 

They summate Bill O'Reilly's tip for the day on Monday. On, um, Twitter. 

The iconic former Fox News entertainer painted a very dark picture of America and social media's place in it.

"America is getting meaner, people less trustworthy. Has to do with the intense struggle for acceptance and wealth. Therefore self-protection becomes vital," he began

This might make some consider why, if it's true, America is getting meaner. Can we blame violent video games, as the president seems to? Can we, perhaps, point the finger at the WWE, the NRA or, as the president alluded to the other day, a certain SOB?

For O'Reilly, however, the meanness means we have to be very careful on Facebook and Twitter.

"Do not put personal stuff on social media, just trivial pursuits. Watch what you say even to folks you think are friends," he said.

I'm not sure he just meant Facebook friends. I fear he may have been referring to real ones, should we have any. 

Of course, one person's trivial pursuits are another person's personal stuff. Social media has encouraged us to merge the medium with our very personalities, so that they become one constant stream of social media being.

It's hard, therefore, to discern whether this O'Reilly tip is merely a trivial pursuit or a personal belief.

I'd ask one of my friends what they think, except they might not be my friends after all.

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