In the world of web development, media queries are a useful tool for creating responsive designs, but they have limitations. Media queries were designed for an earlier time in browser rendering and may not be suitable for modern applications that require more complex logic. A custom React media query hook can be used to conditionally render components based on the browser size, rather than relying solely on CSS. This hook uses the `matchMedia` function from the `window` object to check if a specific media query is matched, and updates a state variable accordingly. The hook also includes an event listener to keep the state in sync with window changes. By using this custom hook, developers can create more responsive and efficient applications.