React feels insane

A developer critiques React's complexity and design decisions, arguing that the framework feels unnecessarily complicated compared to earlier solutions like Angular and jQuery. The response demonstrates common React anti-patterns like misusing useEffect for API calls and event handling, while defending React's design choices and explaining how proper usage with libraries like React Query can address many of the cited issues. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding tool complexity relative to application requirements and using appropriate patterns for different levels of application complexity.