And...private digital communication started with tinkers in their basements, in the middle of the night, phoning someone a few blocks away and connection their then very basic machines together.
Eventually it grew so that many tinkers would connect at prearranged times. Messages could be “sent” coast to coast but it was slower than snail mail.
Then came “nets” like fidonet that could do a primitive email like pine. When communication became faster and reliable bbs and “chat” rooms evolved.
Then came commercial services like compuserve, prodigy, genie and the like.
It was a wonderful time!
I temember TYMNET, TELNET, and DIALUP BULLETIN BOARDS.