Not for the "vast majority", but they are quite popular even for non-techy users, thanks to commercial VPN providers buying ads on YouTube and even offline. Narrative: if you don't use a VPN, hackers will steal all your data and your money. The apps from these providers are easy to set up. Even my mom asked me about it, it's surreal.

True, but I wager they’re vastly more popular than you think, considering the amount of VPN advertising of the last few years. We’re not talking about PGP here.