From my experience, a VPN helps mostly with peace of mind, especially on public networks. I started using one a couple of years ago because I work remotely and often connect from hotels or coworking spaces. It doesn’t magically solve every privacy issue online, but it does make your connection feel less exposed. I also noticed fewer annoying tracking popups and location-based ads after I started using one regularly. When I was comparing different options, I read a few explanations here: https://toggle.org/ because the articles there were written in a pretty simple way without too much technical jargon. I think the main thing is just building safer habits overall instead of relying on one tool alone.