Mastodon has a place, just isn’t for some people. I found the same problem you had with it. Just like how conversations work better in a Reddit-like style of communicating.

RedditIsFun was my goto years back before switching over to iOS to use Apollo. Even though Apollo is a fantastic app I found RedditIsFun to be my preference. Both apps will be missed, and I hope both developers make something as equivalent because the official Reddit app is just corporate level sad.