I certified a year ago, and I can tell you that after OW I had no idea how much of an impact depth had on air consumption. I knew that it impacted it, but the scale I didn't understand. Between finding a mentor to dive with and taking a Deep class soon after, I began to understand, probably the most important to me was doing a SAC calculation. Then I read Bob's articles and built a spreadsheet model based on the information he provided (yes I'm a geek) and played with scenarios, that's when the reality of it hit me.
That understanding helped make me more aware, because I now understand the importance of that awareness. So yes, they are in the same family and they are chicken and egg relationship.