That doesn't say much about React, though. Indeed, you can open the network panel and watch requests go by over the seconds that it takes to open, suggesting that the issue likely resides on the backend.
but i think the reason for +1s, +2s feeling comes not from the client side aka react, render is fast, but they do make two requests to backend which takes ~230ms (for me in EU) and one request of ~130ms every other click on already visited chat/group chat.
Try opening facebook.com; click the messenger, (+1 second) Click one of your chat groups (~2 seconds)
This is merely just to show something
From what I have seen, its quite easy to have performance issues with React