@LianaBrooks yes and very yes
I love all of it, and I learned a lot from the communities that welcomed me.
Best feature: have separate pseudonym accounts on different servers, partitioning professional life from friends from activism from private life from exploratory and intellectual curiosity. Tusky client allows jumping from one account to the other as easy as switching timelines.
With my accounts I mostly read and boost, with minor interactions, but I get news, super interesting commentary, and links to amazing blog posts.
I have read that the Fediverse hasn't been as welcoming or not even safe for many non-(white-cis-male) people, I do my best to not (involuntarily) add to the problem, and actually help when I can. All good-manners I learnt here.