More than once I chose to use React (+ Redux, etc.) for something that could've been solved with a few snippets of jQuery or even just plain javascript.
In many of these cases the app ended up becoming complex enough that I was happy to have prematurely optimized. This has happened often enough that I tend to give React the benefit of the doubt when I'm building an app. (This is also the reason why sometimes I choose to use batteries-included Rails even though Express.js or some lighter framework seems like a perfectly fine choice.)
In other cases using React didn't make things easier, but doing so was convenient because I'd been working with React most of the time anyways (and had some other project to use as a basis or even entire components I could re-use).
All that said, I do err on the side of shiny sometimes, and spend much more time (and Kb's) using React for something where it wasn't necessary. So I see your point.
In many of these cases the app ended up becoming complex enough that I was happy to have prematurely optimized. This has happened often enough that I tend to give React the benefit of the doubt when I'm building an app. (This is also the reason why sometimes I choose to use batteries-included Rails even though Express.js or some lighter framework seems like a perfectly fine choice.)
In other cases using React didn't make things easier, but doing so was convenient because I'd been working with React most of the time anyways (and had some other project to use as a basis or even entire components I could re-use).
All that said, I do err on the side of shiny sometimes, and spend much more time (and Kb's) using React for something where it wasn't necessary. So I see your point.