The VPN thing really depends on which VPN you are getting. A lot of them prey people's misconceptions like being able to access Netflix content from different regions or being an all in one solution for privacy. A VPN can come in handy if you are connecting to restricted or monitored networks. If you are at work and don't want your boss knowing you spend a quarter of your day watching Twitch streams for example.

My big concern and why I'm so privacy focused is because of what people could do with my data and not having any control over it. There were some third party websites for Reddit where you could enter a username and it would spit out metrics based off of what you've said. One thing it could do was tell you where someone lived. I know someone could go through all my comments and posts manually for any times I slipped up but the ease and automation of it are things I didn't care for. I want to add an extra hurdle.

Data leaks are another big concern because then your information is just out there without even a facade of privacy for anyone to utilize