Internet Psychos Wrecked My Self Esteem?

[Drexel S]

Two years ago, I joined an internet dating site which contained an interesting chat room. The chat room had a list of frequent visitors, and they all seemed like very lively people--at least at first glance.

When I entered their "community", I wasn't interested in dating at all--I figured I could make a friend or two by joining the site; but after awhile, things became complicated. The people I had at first believed to be friends turned out to be a bad crowd. They gave me faulty advice, and I--as the "smart person" that I am--took the advice. They showed me how to be rebellious, immoral, and unethical, and turned me into a bitter person.

After I spent some time with them, they revealed terrible secrets to me. One had burnt down part of their own school while smoking marijuana. This same person also confessed to have, in an attempt to be "funny", placed some innocent girl's contact lenses in bleach solution. Am I a bad person for associating with them for so long?
I can earnestly say I tried my best to help these people in any way I could, but I got so caught up with their lives that I became part of it. Now I have developed my own problems, and I feel I have no one to turn to. What's worse, I don't trust anyone anymore. I have become more secluded in an attempt not to involve anyone with my own problems. I can't take the burden of keeping this all locked up inside of me anymore, so I decided to write this post to receive some advice. Please help.