The disease spread slowly at first, among small groups of friends. But then as rotary phones, yellow pads, and occasional meetings around basement chalkboards were replaced by ethernet cables and wireless connections, the curse networked its way into the very fabric of our lives, leaving its victims distracted at work, psychologically absent from their families, and unable to root right. Their corporate pushers, once hesitant to embrace the scourge, now feed it mercilessly. As The New Yorker’s Ben McGrath explains, viewers, teams, and sponsors are going all in when it comes to fantasy sports, which manage to draw “forty million participants in North America, including eight million women … In the Internet age, where enthusiasm and loyalty can be measured in terms of media minutes consumed, the best kind of customer is not the polymath with a wry disposition and an ability to charm the in-laws but, rather, a junkie.”

+ There will come a time when playing video games is considered getting some exercise. Watching video games is already set to be the next major league sport.