Concern about engagement is IMO the root cause issue going all the way back to Twitter. Somewhere around 10 years ago people started focusing on "engagement" instead of just interacting with people organically. Worrying about how to improve their engagement. Not wanting to post on a site if they didn't good engagement. How to monetize engagement. And so on.

Twitter was at its best when it was just a bunch of people figuring out what the fuck it was in the first place. Posting into the ether. Responding to random strangers. Chatting with friends. Whatever.

These sites need less focus on driving engagement, less tools to direct attention to one's post, and more of a focus on organic posting.