To be fair, that's one of the reasons why libraries like jQuery and React exist: to smooth over the difference between browsers. Even today, big chunk of React

To be fair, that's one of the reasons why libraries like jQuery and React exist: to smooth over the difference between browsers. Even today, big chunk of React is masking the subtle differences in event handling and other things. And whilst it forces you into a paradigm, I've never had a bug caused by the internals of React that I've had to dig into. But maybe I'm lucky or only do simple stuff? As to it hurting, I guess I'd say, use the protective equipment! Sure, it can be bulky and awkward occasionally, but it works and it's often better than the alternatives.