Finding Freedom in "JavaScript Fatigue"

A lot of people have spoken about “JavaScript fatigue”: the idea that there are so many new frameworks, tools and ideas available to the average JavaScript developer that it’s impossible to keep up. I thought I’d add my opinion.

When I started learning JavaScript it used to be that I would try to keep up with everything. I suspect now that I just didn’t know how much was out there, but it really felt like that was an acheivable target. I would make a real effort to not only read up on new frameworks & libraries but to try them out: maybe a quick tutorial, maybe a few introductory posts, maybe even a small project.

Now, things have changed and it is obvious to most of us that there is no way you can invest that much time in every new thing that comes out.

For me, this is not a bad thing. In fact, I find it pretty liberating.

The whole situation reminds me a little bit of when I first joined Twitter. I was following maybe 20 people and I would make a real effort to read every single tweet. Ridiculous, right? But still I tried. Then I started following more people and then more people and with every extra piece of content it became less and less realistic to get through everything.

So I let go. I had to.

I couldn’t keep up with everything so I stopped trying to do the impossible and learned to let the mass of information wash over me. If something particularly catches my eye then I can read up on it but if I miss something? Who really cares?

Nowadays it feels the same with JavaScript frameworks. I may never have a chance to get my hands dirty with everything that comes out. In fact, I may never even hear of some of them. But I don’t worry any more about trying to keep up and if something really is the next big thing… well, I’m pretty sure I’ll hear about it soon enough.