It is by the objective litmus test that I use:

> Can the unit be tested without mocking dependencies? If it can’t, it’s tightly coupled to the mocked dependencies.

Most of the other definitions I’ve seen to categorize tight vs loose coupling are subjective and arbitrary, which are problematic because it means that they become subject to opinions like the one you expressed.

My aim here is to move beyond opinion and make a statement that is objectively provable fact.

I recognize that not everybody shares and agrees with my definition, but at least in the context of my article, I can define what I mean and draw logical conclusions from it that are at least self-consistent, even if other people want to disagree and hold onto their subjective opinions in other contexts.