How does an engineer buy into hype? Ur supposed to be analytical. Everytime some new frontend bs like tailwind comes out I roll my eyes. People want to be famous not practical. React is only popular because of Facebook and react native. It's a shit ecosystem and frontend tool set. Webpages are slow due to bloat not shadow dom.
Your idea of "easy" is stupid. Possible yes easy , no. And all that money they spend to catchup just to find Nvidia used that time to RD the next step. At this level it's a patent game. Also at this level the companies literally employ the best in their field. The best out of 8 billion. Replicating talent is impossible.
Popularity has nothing to do with the tech. WordPress is popular and it's shit. Ms word is popular and there are free substitutes. Success is about a form of politics and coercion with mvp. Emphasis on the "minimal."
Don't try to be. You need to diversify. Start climbing another mountain. You'll come back when something is interesting. Why do you feel it needs to be interesting? You desire for the familar is a fear of change. Embrace the change. I enjoyed sw eng but I don't want to do it for others. I work a 9 to 5 and it's a simple life. I look back fondly but wouldn't want to put myself back on a team with a product manager. Ask yourself what you want and allow yourself to say it's not in front of the screen anymore. You'll come back when you have that old spark of exploration in an area that's meaningful. Or maybe not and that's ok too.