Most React performance advice is stuck in 2023. Here's what actually matters in 2026, explained through a highway traffic analogy
Your React app is a highway. Components are cars. Renders are trips. The goal isn't fewer cars on the road. It's making traffic flow.
Most React Performance Advice is Outdated
If you've read a React performance article in the last three years, it probably told you to wrap things in useMemo and useCallback. Maybe it mentioned React.memo. Maybe it told you to "avoid unnecessary re-renders."
That advice wasn't great in 2023. In 2026, with the React Compiler shipping auto-memoization, it's actively counterproductive.
