It would be an interesting weekend project to try and "diff" two users by their followed users to better understand this. Maybe someone's done that.

My experience on the website hasn't changed, but I deliberately only follow accounts that do not engage in news or politics. My account is completely detached from current events besides my local municipality's accounts.

After Elon purchased Twitter, I suspect things bifurcated after a large contingent of left-of-center people rage-quit. This created two asymmetries: one on Twitter, and one on Mastodon. Now there are two quasi-echo-chambers that to go together oil and water. Any time someone tries to cross over, they experience what appears like a uniform attack against them, but in reality it's because people took sides and sorted themselves into separate networks.

The woodworking communities on Twitter and Mastodon are both excellent and different.