Brown Hound Press on Instagram: "Story of the Week: Last week, a California jury found that Meta and Google were guilty of deliberately designing their apps to be addictive. The plaintiff alleged that her depression and anxiety were directly related to her use of the technology, and the court agreed. Suvajeet Duttagupta (@lucidillusions.in) explores this concept of digital addiction in his story “The Digital Familiar” wherein a teenage girl becomes psychologically dependent on an AI(?)-powered phone app. She turns her back on her friends and family, and devotes her life to the new “relationship” she develops with a digital avatar. The theme sounds like sci-fi, but read the story in the context of the Meta/Google court case and you might find Sylvie’s experience hits a little too close to home. Read the story at brownhoundpress.com. - Josh Boldt, Editor"

19 likes, 4 comments - brownhoundpress on April 2, 2026: "Story of the Week: Last week, a California jury found that Meta and Google were guilty of deliberately designing their apps to be addictive. The plaintiff alleged that her depression and anxiety were directly related to her use of the technology, and the court agreed. Suvajeet Duttagupta (@lucidillusions.in) explores this concept of digital addiction in his story “The Digital Familiar” wherein a teenage girl becomes psychologically dependent on an AI(?)-powered phone app. She turns her back on her friends and family, and devotes her life to the new “relationship” she develops with a digital avatar. The theme sounds like sci-fi, but read the story in the context of the Meta/Google court case and you might find Sylvie’s experience hits a little too close to home. Read the story at brownhoundpress.com. - Josh Boldt, Editor".