I certainly often find it distracting - it's notable that e.g. elvis' default highlighting, which mostly just slightly bolds {} and () and similar, doesn't both

I certainly often find it distracting - it's notable that e.g. elvis' default highlighting, which mostly just slightly bolds {} and () and similar, doesn't bother me at all, though I get most of the same advantage out of 'showmatch' in vi. (see my sibling comment for the fully verbose version)