New Delhi, April 9 -- The case that may define the decade did not begin in a laboratory. It began in a courtroom.

A 20-year-old woman testified that social media had consumed her life-"I wanted to be on it all the time." A jury agreed, awarding $6 million in damages and, more consequentially, legitimizing a once-dismissed claim: that platforms engineered for engagement may function like addictive systems, with social media detox reversing cognitive decline now emerging as a serious intervention.

That verdict is not an outlier. It is a signal flare.

Across disciplines-law, neuroscience, behavioral psychology-the same conclusion is emerging with unnerving clarity: social media is not merely a tool. It is an environment, a stimulus system...