I think you just explained why I do this. I thought I had just developed an addiction to the news over the past six months, but this hit me.

I use VPN because it actually speeds up my connection on cellular. My theory is the DNS servers that Verizon uses in my area are inefficient, to the point where I’ll get 1 Mbit down on Verizon, but 100 Mbit down connected to Proton VPN.

It has nothing to do with security, unless I’m in a coffee shop on WiFi.

Edit: here are my speeds on cellular, first without VPN, second while connected to a server in Los Angeles.