Lemmy feels really busy to me

This depends on perspective. Reddit is much better for most very specific communities, but also much more of a time sink than Lemmy due to just how much larger it is. In terms of reclaiming some of your time back using Lemmy is a great alternative to Reddit because you can't scroll forever, forcing you to stop. This is thoroughly in the realm of a feature for me, not having Reddit on my phone or PC is much better in terms of how I use my time.