‘You’ll rarely experience spy-movie stealth or the constant frustration of corporate geofences.’ How 24 hours connected to a VPN changed my perspective on personal data security

I’d hoped this article would be a bit more exciting to write. Instead, I’ve just been left with a sense of safety that’s a little dull, but satisfying nonetheless.

Between the House of Lords voting to restrict their use for children and streaming services taking VPN services to court, these tools are often framed as a legislative nightmare. For the average user, though, you’ll rarely experience spy-movie stealth or the constant frustration of corporate geofences.

Instead, you’ll have a tool that you install, turn on once, and forget about.

Don’t believe me? I just spent 24 hours with every device I own connected to a VPN in support of Data Protection Day 2026. Here are some of the most common VPN myths I encountered – and dispelled – throughout the day.

Surfshark data shows that nearly 58 billion data points have been leaked since 2004. What’s often forgotten, however, is that one leaked email address, username, or password provides more than a singular data point. This means the number of people affected is lower than the raw data suggests.

Since a VPN encrypts your data, it’s often recommended to help prevent being impacted by such breaches. While this is true—all you need to do is turn it on to be protected—the reality is that you won’t actually see the VPN doing anything during your day-to-day browsing, and it can’t prevent every type of data breach.

If your data was already compromised in a historical breach, a VPN cannot stop the resulting spam. It also can’t improve the internal security of the platforms you use every day. If a service you use suffers a server-side leak, a VPN won’t prevent your stored data from being misused. It protects your data while using the web, but it can’t secure the destination.

You’re being watched on public Wi-Fi

As with most things, navigating public Wi-Fi is often a case of “better safe than sorry.” However, most VPN providers will tell you that you’re always unsafe or constantly being watched while connected to one.

There are some truths to this. If you happen to connect to a truly malicious hotspot designed to harvest data, they are likely harvesting your data for some devious means.

But if you’re simply using the free Wi-Fi at a train station to send a quick message, you’re hardly likely to be at risk. The irony is that you have likely already handed over your personal data just to get online, as many public networks now require a name and email address just to get online.

In these instances, a VPN can only do so much. Yes, it will encrypt your data to prevent hackers from intercepting your session, but no, it won’t prevent your local metro station from knowing where you live or how to contact you. Plus, you’ll rarely see any such protection; once it’s turned on, a VPN will just do what it needs to silently.

best VPNs now include ad-blocking as part of their packages, even on their most basic plans. While these providers promise an ad-free haven of clean browsing, the reality is rarely that simple.

I’ve tested NordVPN and Proton VPN most recently, and in our intensive testing and my day-to-day experience, neither has been entirely perfect. NordVPN blocked 54% while Proton VPN blocked 88%. This means that while your experience is generally improved, the occasional “leak” of a banner or pop-up makes it easy to forget the blocker is even running.

If you’re keen to see just how helpful they’ve been, many providers now track how many ads and trackers their systems block. While it seems interesting, there’s no telling just how many they missed, nor how many they will catch in the future.

It’s also important to remember that most ads aren’t malicious; they’re just annoying. Malicious ads are more often than not found on less-than-trustworthy websites, so if you keep your online traffic clean, you’ll likely be fine regardless.

In short, VPNs are dull – and that’s one of their greatest strengths. They sit in the background of your phone, tablet, or computer, and can be forgotten.

However, whether you notice them or not, they are constantly working to keep you secure. It might not be everything you hoped and dreamed of, but you’re definitely safer for it.

They make it near-impossible for criminals to intercept your data online thanks to next-level encryption, and some are even equipped to protect you against quantum computing threats already.

A VPN isn’t a guaranteed shield against every online risk, but it is as vital a safeguard as a complex password. Best of all, unlike a password, it’s one of the few security measures you don’t have to remember to use every single time.