In all fairness those were the exact same comments when people moved away from Digg to reddit, only in the opposite direction. History is just repeating itself.
Both sites you simply clicked the register link, input your username/pass/email then done. The fediverse does not have a clean onboarding that lends itself to comprehension by a regular non-technical person. It seems way over the head of your average user. I've tried to get friends to check out Lemmy and it's a solid no-go.
If you need an entire matrix of understanding of a concept before feeling comfortable to use it then it is simply too much cognitive friction.
Which lemmy site have you used that was any more difficult than that? Click sign up, enter a username and password, and then you're done.