I just tell people who see me on my phone with the Lemmy UI open that "I'm chatting with people on the internet", and leave it at that lol. I think most people I know have already figured out that I'm some sort of godless socialist, or something along those lines, from my opinions on domestic and international affairs. I don't talk about it often, but when I do I lay it out pretty plainly.

yes, even my son has heard of Hexbear

Your son knows about this place? Is he old enough to fully understand that we're some sort of esoteric political forum, or something like that?