I'm in a similar position, trying to update myself from jQuery/Backbone land to React etc. It truly is a nightmare - so many similar yet slightly different tools and conventions. So many web sites with code that almost works but not quite. So much "magic" which works when it works and when it doesn't you simply have no idea where to even start debugging it. Which is all the worse in languages like Javascript where everything is typeless and dynamic and the only way trace things is to debug live, usually landing you into minified code you have no hope of decoding.

Technology does seem to move in cycles and this has all the signs of a peak of complexity. I feel like it will almost certainly collapse under its own weight - the last time I saw complexity this out of control was the early days of J2EE. The question is whether the solution will be built on elements of what currently exists or whether someone will make a clean sweep like Ruby on Rails did to J2EE.

Sorry, I don't have anything else to offer other than a sympathetic rant!