>Most kinds of interaction, even for the smallest apps, are easier with React than with vanilla JS.
I think the difference isn't between the difficulty/complexity of that individual action but the overall complexity of everything up to that point. Once upon a time the simplest web tutorials might have involved "Open a text editor (already on your PC), write these 10 lines, save it in this directory on your web server or open the file in a browser". Now even the simplest tutorials have way more dependencies/prerequisites and often involve building projects, installing things, framework choices, etc
Once you're already setup and going it may not feel complicated but from the perspective of the dude just trying to buy a hammer it certainly looks complicated.
I think the difference isn't between the difficulty/complexity of that individual action but the overall complexity of everything up to that point. Once upon a time the simplest web tutorials might have involved "Open a text editor (already on your PC), write these 10 lines, save it in this directory on your web server or open the file in a browser". Now even the simplest tutorials have way more dependencies/prerequisites and often involve building projects, installing things, framework choices, etc
Once you're already setup and going it may not feel complicated but from the perspective of the dude just trying to buy a hammer it certainly looks complicated.