Does the good that fluther provides for many of us have a hidden cost?

In the virtual world, where we have anonymity, many people (including me) use that anonymity to talk about things they could never talk about in the real world. Sometimes, though, I wonder if it’s bad to let out too much. One friend of mine thinks I go too far; that there are things I don’t need to share.

I’m not all that concerned about sharing person details. What does concern me is the feelings I have associated with what I see going on here. Someone just wrote a comment that was very touching, and it first made me want to cry, and then it made me sad.

There are things that happen here, and I take them so seriously that I can really be rocked, emotionally. But it’s just a website! These people exist only as potentially real. I am anonymous, so no one need ever know who I am in real life. So I unbutton my lips, early and often, as they say. Maybe that’s not so good for me as I thought.

What’s your experience? Have your emotions been strongly affected by things that happen here, and then those feelings get transferred into real life? Have you said things you wish you hadn’t? Have things that happen here affected you more strongly than you thought was warranted? Is the impact that fluther has on your emotions unhealthy?