Would using a VPN even help?

Wouldn't that just slow you down, cause some websites to not work, and leave your device showing up as a giant black hole / empty spot without traffic where "expected" traffic should be?

Although at this point I'm wondering if I should be nervous about website traffic showing up to Lemmy on a work computer, due to mismatching priorities of it (freedom) vs. the new USA federal administration (which nearly every company - including and most notably to me Proton, a provider of free VPN access - seems to be sucking up to).