tl;dr: Developers often avoid native platform APIs due to historical browser inconsistencies, familiarity with npm/framework ecosystems, better third-party documentation, and the simple fact that building things yourself is fun and educational (plus the IKEA effect makes you attached to your own code). The author notes this pattern extends beyond web dev to any platform where developers don't fully understand the underlying layer. AI coding could either help by leveraging encyclopedic platform knowledge, or worsen the problem by generating redundant custom code.