[Tech Debt]: Refactor useState() to useRef() as relevant

[emilydrakesmith]

What is needed?

State values in React are generally held and memoized across renders by one of two hooks: useRef() and useState(). There exists one salient functional difference in use cases:

• useState() will trigger a DOM refresh when its value changes (per React's differencing library)
• useRef() will not trigger a DOM refresh when its value changes

There are a number of places in the app where a value is being memoized in a useState() hook but for one reason or another, do not need to trigger a DOM refresh. We should review all instances of useState() in the app and refactor to for useRef() where warranted. This will reduce unnecessary DOM refreshes and make the app more performant in general.