Is playing a bit of chess at a young age an advantage?

For some background before I get into my question for the community, I played chess for about a year in my middle school chess club and quickly became the best player in the club (not a high bar). The people in the club, including myself, didn't know any openings or anything; we just played what we felt was best and figured out what worked and what didn't on our own. But after that year I didn't continue with the club due to some medical issues that took place that summer and didn't end up playing again until age 22 a few months ago, and some friends ended up starting to pick up the game at the same time who had played a bit as kids and knew how to play at least but didn't have any real experience with the game. So recently we have been talking a bit about how much of an advantage that year of once a week chess club really was for me picking up the game compared to them starting from scratch. From my perspective, of course, it was an advantage to have played a lot more back then than they had starting out, but because I didn't really know what I was doing and didn't even learn any basic strategy except what I found worked from playing, I'm not sure I feel like it's as big of an advantage as my friends are making it out to be when we play each other. It's not like when I started playing again it was all that useful considering I was learning strategy and development basically from scratch at the same time as them. The main argument being made is that I was younger, and even if we didn't play all that well, a young mind absorbed the patterns better than they can now, so I'm curious what others think of that argument outside of our little friend group. To be clear, I do think I did get some benefit from that, just not as much as they are making it out to be. Any input will be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this .

Yes bc at young age it is much easier to consume knowledge.

Its a bit like asking whether its good if a person starts drinking alcohol and smoking hash at a younger age, of course the answer is NO, chess is mental masturbation , it is best if you start very late when your life is already messed up , don't destroy the life of young kittens whose time is best spent learning how to catch mice and feed themselves ie going to school and studying rather than becoming addict to this useless game and messing up their life at an early age

^^ thats why you can learn languages quicker when your younger, you can learn concepts faster

^honestly this guy probably has a point lol im thankful for my brief exposure to chess with grandparents or just one time at elementary though i dont think i even played. I cant claim it helped me but what it probably did was expose me to the game, and that might have planted a seed if you will. Cant claim it helped my game beyond that though