So if I wanted to host my own mastodon for friends and family but found the installation process too difficult, does that make this the best route forward for me?
You could reach out for help if you were running into problems. AskBeehaw would be an example for inquires. Also, there's nothing preventing anyone from asking for technical support at Beehaw's technology community which has the largest viewership on Beehaw.
They say it is less complex than Mastodon as well as lighter weight requirements. A Docker install is usually also easiest. So I'd say it is a better option to try for friends and family.
Yes, as there is full control over what is exposed or mapped for the app including network ports, and future updates don't get broken by inconsistent dependencies. I suppose if you run only one service on a machine and stick to standard ports for reverse proxying then maybe a binary install can be simpler. But if you want to install multiple apps ona server containers does become easier to manage and update.