Centralized social media had trained me to think in a certain way. "If you don't like it, go build your own..." is the popular phrase. The mentality seems to be that one central entity has to control it all, or social media can't exist.
Joyfully, #mastodon has proven that to be false.
I hadn't imagined anything like this could ever work this well. Pretty amazing. Props to the #fosstodon admins, @kev @mike @cooper @Tay0 @ru @grueproof. This is a great place to be!