I think Web Development has been trending towards being obnoxious no matter how you spin it for many many years now.
All these frameworks, doing too much magic under the hood, were supposed to make things easier, in some form or fashion, but I feel like each one always come with their own problems. Are things actually easier when developing with them?
While I understand nothing is perfect, it doesn't help but add so much complexity into many applications for no reason. If over half of all websites when back to plain HTML/CSS/JS, I do not think the world would suddenly stop.
I feel like a majority of people building web applications are using a development methodology I read on here years ago that was jokingly called, "Resume-Driven Development." I've still not really ever heard a convincing argument for SPAs for websites (web applications could be a different debate, but it also could be a false dichotomy).
However, I find myself getting urges to learn one of these SPA frameworks, not because I think it will benefit much of what I do, but because that is obligatory in staying competitive in my market.
Wait we have to support older browsers? IME if you're not on the latest Chrome release, or one prior, then you're on your own. Any other browser or older release is rarely a serious concern.
If this is the future, then no wonder everyone is running back to just shipping HTML over the wire. All this has gotten too complicated.