Kinda nerdy take here, but the public ip address vs private ip address setup is one of those "workaround genius" things.
Without private ips, every smart fridge and lightbulb would need a public ip, which would be a nightmare for security *and* logistics. NAT (that thing your router does) lets your whole house hide behind one public ip.
Also, private ips (10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x, 192.168.x.x) are reserved, so they’ll never conflict with public ones.
If you wanna experiment, set up a Raspberry Pi as a local server—you’ll see how private ips work in action.
Without private ips, every smart fridge and lightbulb would need a public ip, which would be a nightmare for security *and* logistics. NAT (that thing your router does) lets your whole house hide behind one public ip.
Also, private ips (10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x, 192.168.x.x) are reserved, so they’ll never conflict with public ones.
If you wanna experiment, set up a Raspberry Pi as a local server—you’ll see how private ips work in action.