To talk to random internet strangers. Discuss life, computer issues, politics and whatnot. Sometimes I learn something. Sometimes I ask random questions that I didn't find anwers to. Sometimes I just spend my downtime scrolling through posts.
I like the federation for interacting with people in a way that’s similar to previous social media sites, but without the bloat and advertising.
It’s also nice to not have to deal with the extreme political rhetoric unless I specifically look for it, such as HexBear or .ML instances.
My mastodon is mostly queer/alternative folk and I share my music and exploits online diary style.
Lemmy is mostly how I used Reddit, but I’m less of a lurker here.
Maker tube (Peertube) is cool because I can watch, make, or share videos like YouTube used to be before the commercialization.
TanukiTunes (FunkWhale) is awesome because I can upload my own music or listen to music without having to fork over data, and I can donate/purchase music directly through the profile’s preferred method instead of Spotify hellscape.
I’ll eventually get a Pixelfed for my photography exploits. I occasionally use Mastodon to share cool pics I find.
Sharing of information. However, there's not many easy places for that nowadays without the risk of too much censorship. I just want to see all opinions, even the bad ones. I don't want somebody else to decide what the bad ones are for me.