See, I love to curl up with a good book and turn everything off for a while when I'm alone. I can live without internet depending on the company I'm keeping.
However, the problem lies with the fact that for some reason I tend to attract people to me when I'm reading and they immediately decide to start talking to me. Now, I'm willing to listen to peoples problems and such, that's not the issue it's just when I'm reading that means I want to read, not talk. The difference is when I'm on the computer with an important looking document on it from the internet, people think I'm working, which they're right I'm writing the majority of the time, but sometimes I will just read the thing I was trying to read in my hands, online so people won't talk to me.
Internet is important to me since as an academically minded individual, I find it's far easier to get scholarly papers online than it is from the Library since they don't always have the papers I need when I need them. I've ordered papers before and the Library is a big resource of mine but there are some more obscure resources that are easier to obtain on the internet. Not to mention I work on the internet and I do have friends on the internet that I value as comrades in arms. I wouldn't have gotten to know some people from my old graduating classes if it wasn't for the internet which has been a good thing and a bad thing. I also wouldn't be reaching as wide of an audience if it wasn't for the internet's influence on my articles, for good or for ill.
The Internet is essential, not in the sense I need it like an addict but it's benefited me in other ways that I'm grateful for.