I’ve been an Internet orphan since mid-March. That’s when my neighbor moved away, taking with him the wi-fi we’d been sharing for almost two years.

So on Monday I called a local ISP and arranged for my own connection. On Tuesday I got an invoice for a year of service. And today I called to cancel the account.

“May I ask why you’re canceling?” the service rep asked. “It’s complicated,” I wanted to answer.

I’ll admit that part of it was sticker shock. I’ve had a lot of unexpected bills this year, and the thought of spending another $400 gave me pause.

But the other part of my decision surprised me: I realized that I don’t really want Internet service at home.

For the past two months, I haven’t wasted a single morning mindlessly surfing eBay. I haven’t felt a compulsion to blog every evening.

Instead, I’ve spent my hour or two before work studying French and scanning my old negatives. I’ve spent my evenings chatting with Esteban or hanging out with friends. And I’ve been keeping up with my emails just fine on my phone, thank you very much.

They say it takes about two months to form a new habit. I don’t recall ever having acquired the online habit. But I’m happy to discover it wasn’t so hard to break.