You can be shocked but hey, that's the reality. It's more understanding the "why" rather than the "how".

but I assume your friends are less tech savvy

Precisely, which underlines what I'm saying. It's not a conpiracy. It's too complicated for the lay user right now.

It seems as though you're telling me what to find confusing. I did not find Mastodon straightforward to start on. Some of my friends found it even more difficult and simply gave up.

A large part of using Mastodon is understanding how federated networks work. That's something that needs to be explained and most people won't understand it.

I'm a seasoned internet user and am very much an earlier adopter with a very decent handle on new technologies. Mastodon is too complicated for most newcomers. Most people like to have be set up and ready to go within five minutes. Mastodon, as great as the idea is, simply isn't that simple.