Jquery event on textarea change

This is surprising and has gone through a few changes across the years.

var oldVal = "";

$("#textarea").on("change keyup paste", function() {
    var currentVal = $(this).val();
    if(currentVal == oldVal) {
        return; //check to prevent multiple simultaneous triggers
    }

    oldVal = currentVal;
    //action to be performed on textarea changed
    alert("changed!");
});