Can’t emphasise enough how much the Mastodon experience is improved by choosing the right app to use it. The official Mastodon app is terrible with very limited functionality, making for a very isolated feeling from everyone and the wider communities. Metatext is waaaaay better and replicates the Twitter experience much more closely. Mastodon is actually enjoyable with this app.
I advise picking through a bunch of apps to see which one is more suitable for you before settling on one to use.