There’s a difference, though, between everyone having access to what you have done, and people in your circle of trust gossiping about you to people outside of it. First, you can theoretically figure out the gossip and exclude them. Second, the gossip gossips about things _they_ find interesting, not about things random bored trolls find juicy. Thus, the odds of your faux pas exposing you to abuse are naturally lower.

In other words, “small towns have no secrets” is an oversimplification.

Suicide rates do go up the lower the population density. I can't say it's attributable to this dynamic, though.

> suicide rates increase as population density decreases and an area becomes more rural.

https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/disparities-in-suicide.htm...

Entrapment, and a sense that there is no path to a bright future. Both socially and economically.