Byung-Chul Han distinguishes between using and using up—between utilization and consumption. To use something sustains a relationship; to use something up exhausts both the object and oneself.
This is evident in our engagement with rituals and objects. When we consume without pause, we sever ourselves from continuity, from the world of presence and participation. The act becomes a fleeting burn rather than a lingering connection.
True use integrates us into meaning; consumption isolates, leaving behind neither object nor self—only depletion.