For the average home desktop/laptop user, you probably don’t need it. It won’t hurt, but unless you’re really downloading and executing random files off the internet, it won’t do much.

If you run a server that is publicly available on the internet that allows folks to upload files to it, then you will almost certainly want it.

Degradation of privacy and security are not on or off switches, but rather a sliding scale dependent on your actions and choices.

What are you trying to protect and from whom?

What are the probable attack vectors?

What conveniences are you will to give up?

To prevent online services ( like google and facebook) from knowing who you are you have to completely disconnect from them and their networks.

Tails when used in combination with a VPN is secure, but only until the service you are trying to protect your privacy from put together that you are using them (usually by you logging into an account with them ).

When I was younger, privacy was something we were less concerned about. We were more concerned with preventing our systems from being hacked. Folks liked to say that the only secure computer was one that was locked in a solid concrete bunker on the dark side of the moon, with no data connection to the rest of the universe, and even then there would be some fool out there with a space suit and a jack hammer trying to get into it.

The only formal training I had was 20 years ago in high school when I took a pair of A+ and Networking certification electives. At the time I wanted to get into Systems Administration as a career, but no one was hiring when I graduated. Went into trucking instead.

20 years on though, I don’t really consider selfhosting a hobby, but rather the most cost effective way to achieve whatever I’m trying to accomplish for my family or myself. SAAS and subscriptions have kinda gotten out of hand, so I’ve “voted with my wallet” and just done them myself.

Mostly. I pay for email. That was a pain in the ass.

Do I still enjoy it, sure. But that’s has become secondary as my objectives have shifted over the years.

About the only upside to this that I can think of is that maybe, just maybe, programmers will start being more frugal with their memory usage. Everything else just sucks.