Maybe the experience varies depending on where the user is located. Users near Mastodon servers (possibly on the US East or West Coast) may not feel the slowness as much as users in other parts of the world. I notice noticeably slower response times when I use Mastodon in my location (Korea).
I think a lot of people use Hetzner. I notice slowness, especially with media, in Hong Kong. A workaround I've found is to use VPNs which seem to utilise networks with better peering with local ISPs
