I still don't know how to use mastodon, I feel like I'm only here to share my stuff and read replies, and less so any kind of discovery of following and engaging with other people's stuff

it seems like there's only a chronological feed of those you follow (which I usually don't like because it skews to the most active people), and a generic feed for your instance (pretty much useless), but no algorithmic discovery thing?

@acegikmo I find stuff to read and people to follow through boosts, replies and hashtags. By 'replies' I mean reading replies to a post, and visiting people's profiles to see what they post about. You could try replacing scrolling an algorithmic homepage with link-hopping posts, profiles and hashtags. To me it feels more rewarding and less draining/time-wastey.