If you’re in your 20s why would you avoid a smaller position that uses a DRIP strategy?

I get that stock returning 12% will outpace a 5% yield with the stock growing at maybe 3%. Hence why a lot of people say don’t invest in these when you’re young. But also when I hear dividends I also hear about the snowball effect. These two things seem like they’re opposing one another. I’m told not to invest because of the lower returns, but also told that a big component of dividends is the ability to leverage a DRIP strategy which also benefits from compounding. What am I missing here?