I am curious what is Mastodon for you? I've recently discovered that I prefer to look at it rather as some kind of diary shared among people I want to be contact with than as a social media we get used to know. These two ways of functioning are, in my opinion, totally different and force us to have two different approaches to interact with others.

The fact that Masto is not algorithm driven and of decentralised structure makes it less 'interactive'. Usually you don't get hundreds of likes or boosts. Your posts aren't that popular and I argue that maybe they shouldn't be. People interact only if they find some particular content interesting for them similarly to everyday life. It means also that if you want to have a good connection with someone you need to engage with them, and work for it, and look after that relation. It is harder for sure, but maybe just maybe in the long shot it will make our relations with each other less immediate but better and deeper? I hope so.