It's not like I haven't worked on projects using NPM before ... Where I avoided adding dependencies willy-nilly. So trying to pin me on my current one project, disregarding any previous experience is quite a faulty argumentation, that doesn't invalidate anything I wrote.
Adding a single dependency on one popular package - such as Jest - can add 300 packages.
I am not convinced you ever checked how many packages were actually present in your projects, as you shared no specifics.
I assume you just did not check, and may have had hundreds of packages installed despite avoiding adding dependencies willy-nilly. This invalidates your suggestion.
