Yep! A formative experience of my childhood was working out how to type SMTP commands over telnet and sending mail from billg@microsoft.com to my dad. Such "opportunities" vanished decades ago.
Worked at an aerospace concern in the early 90s… for the first year or so there was no firewall. Yes, my Mac and PC directly on the internet with routable addresses.
I soon set up a website and webcam as they were shipped. CU-See-Me blew my mind. At some point I stood up a Quake server and invited friends to play. ;-)
Fun times :)