Between “Use” and “Dependence”
Is “Dependence” the Real Stress Today?
#newspaperinlearning #adultpacifier
2nd May 2026
I just want you to observe this picture for a minute, before we get into the post for today! 😊
Well, I came across this very insightful article in today’s The Times of India, that highlights the digital strain and digital stress that surrounds today’s “digital consumption”.
It highlights the shocking fact that while the younger adults (15–25 years) struggle with sheer overuse, this behaviour evolves into a much deeper, entrenched dependence for young adults (26–35 years). Thereby the article dismantles the common assumption that digital addiction is exclusively a teenage phenomenon.
.jpg)
The article separates digital strain into a fascinating hierarchy of five distinct categories - Dependence, Overuse, Non-restraint, Flow of life disruption, and Emotional state!
Added, the article also focusses on how digital media is continuously shaping human behaviour every single moment of our ‘digital’ lives. Although a 60% majority still maintain a “balanced” relationship with their devices, the article warns that, the population today is almost tottering on the edge of a full-blown crisis.
As a solution, the article is against the “impractical idea” of a complete digital withdrawal. It acknowledges that these tools are fundamental to modern learning and societal participation. It suggests that, we need a conscious shift towards healthier digital ecosystems and habits.
And that’s where, we have an excellent premise for discussing how digital ecosystems must be consciously navigated and reshaped, rather than simply rejected - between “Use” and “Dependence!”
Now for the literary takeaways – as usual! 😊
In this regard, me thought of delving a bit into two of our literary fall-back options – Freud & Jung – to analyse this habituated action of ‘digital dependence’.
Digital overuse in the 15–25 age bracket, transitions into digital dependence by 26–35 years, notes the article.
Overuse is the behaviour (spending too many hours scrolling, gaming, or texting).
And over a period of time, this “repetitive” behaviour quietly rewires our psychological habits until it solidifies into dependence - the obsessive compulsive dependence on the device.
Let’s first look at Freud’s take on how and why this digital dependence takes root! (Anachronistic, but still) 😊
Viewing digital dependence through Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, we can find that, digital dependence can happen for reasons like - the avoidance of pain, and unresolved childhood conflicts.
Well, that’s because, Freud argues that humans are fundamentally driven by the ‘Pleasure Principle” to seek instant gratification! And... a smartphone offers this ‘instant gratification!’
However, as people age into their late 20s and 30s, the demands of life, work, and relationships increase (the Reality Principle). Here Freud argues that, this digital dependence is a kind of a ‘substitute gratification’ and a hasty retreat to the Pleasure Principle in order to avoid the anxieties of reality of adult life – and a way to anaesthetise the ego against psychological pain, boredom, or loneliness!
Freud famously looked upon addictions (like alcoholism or smoking) as substitutes for unmet or unresolved primal needs, tracing them back to early developmental stages - like the oral stage, where an infant is soothed by pacifiers – substitute gratifications.
[A pacifier - is a small rubber, plastic, or silicone nipple given to infants and toddlers to suck on. Its literal purpose is to pacify - to soothe, calm, or quiet a distressed or crying baby]
The modern smartphone, then, to Freud, would act as an adult pacifier; keeping it constantly in hand or in pocket is a way for substitute gratification.
Carl Jung, on the other hand, would look upon this addiction as a “misdirected search” for deeper meaning!
In a famous letter regarding alcoholism, Jung used the Latin phrase spiritus contra spiritum - suggesting that alcohol addiction is a low-level, destructive attempt to satisfy a high-level, spiritual thirst for wholeness and connection.
On this note, I guess Jung would sure argue that digital dependence is an addiction, born from a genuine, deeply human desire to feel connected to the world and to find meaning.
In other words, we endlessly scroll looking for “meaning”, but because the digital world is a shallow substitute, the thirst is never quenched, leading to obsessive, compulsive disorder… oops… dependence – “a low-level, destructive attempt to satisfy a high-level, spiritual thirst for wholeness and connection!”
In a nutshell, then, Freud would say that digital dependence happens because of our need to avoid reality and the fret of everyday life, while Jung would make us believe that digital dependence is akin to searching for our soul in a machine that doesn’t have one!
