I barely have time to contribute to fix bugs in the dependencies I use. If I had more time for OSS contributions I might, but I’m not in my 20s anymore and when I’m not at work I’m taking care of my family.
My colleagues and friends are free to do as they please.
I think people are confusing centralized with federated. Federation has benefits but Mastodon is not decentralized. There is duplication of data but it’s not the same.