Brian Schrader blogged about reading blogs instead of social media:

I don’t see the kinds of bizarro-world content that proliferates on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. because I just don’t spend time on algorithmic social media.

Mastodon isn’t immune to this either because it’s not just the algorithms. Using a social reader instead of an RSS reader means that the posts with the most engagement — and things that make people angry have more engagement — are more likely to be bubble up in your timeline with subsequent replies and links.