...sometimes it does feel like this.
Overall it's less toxic than Reddit, as evidenced by how many people were lurkers there but here actually feel comfortable enough to open up and contribute.
I note that you are on Lemmy.World, which blocks some of the most well-known trolling instances. That indeeds helps a ton, though means that the experiences of someone who joined e.g. lemm.ee instead are going to be quite different.