How to explain the importance of a VPN to your parents this Christmas

Christmas, for a lot of people, means getting together with family, sharing good food, and catching up properly. But every now and then, somewhere between dessert and a second cup of tea, those conversations drift beyond small talk and into things that actually matter: work, money, family worries, or why everything feels more complicated than it used to be, especially online.

To be fair, in 2025, the topic of digital privacy has been hard to ignore. Age verification checks, internet censorship, and Australia’s social media ban have a habit of coming up, even if nobody planned to mention them. These are no longer niche tech debates. They affect how people shop, browse, travel, and stay in touch.

That is where the awkward question often comes in. How do you explain something like a VPN to your parents or any non-techy family member without sounding dramatic or overly technical?

This guide is here to help. It gives you a few simple conversation starters and practical talking points you can use to explain what today's best VPNs are, why they matter, and why using them doesn't have to be complicated. Think of it less as a lecture and more as a calm, constructive chat over Christmas pudding.

Holiday hoaxes

Christmas is when most people do more online shopping than at any other time of year. That means inboxes quickly fill up with discount deals, order confirmations, and tracking notifications, all arriving at once in perfect chaos.

Unfortunately, this is exactly why scammers ramp things up over the Christmas period. More online shopping means more ads, more links, and more last-minute offers competing for attention, creating far more opportunities for fake websites, copycat ads, and misleading links to slip through.

According to AARP, 39% of people have encountered fraud while trying to buy a product through an online ad, often tied to deals that appear at just the right moment.

This is where you gently clear your throat and say, "This is why I keep recommending a VPN."

A VPN won't magically stop scams from existing. Nothing does. But, what it can do is reduce how exposed they are while shopping. The best secure VPNs often flag suspicious websites, block known malicious ads, and warn users before they click links that look legitimate but are not. That kind of protection matters when fake delivery messages and copycat retail sites are at their peak.

You should also mention encryption, which sounds technical but is actually very simple. A VPN encrypts their internet connection, so personal details, account logins, and payment information are scrambled while they browse and shop online. This makes data far harder for anyone else to intercept.

They're easy to use – no, really, we mean it!

VPNs have a bit of a reputation problem outside of cyber-savvy circles. If your parents fall into that category and hear "VPN", they might immediately assume that it's all too complicated to digest.

In all honesty, VPNs do sound technical, and if you start talking about encryption, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, PPTP protocols, and ciphers, you'll lose them somewhere around the second sentence.

So, the trick here is to explain that they do not need to understand (or pronounce) any of that to use one. Though if they are ever curious or want a clearer explanation later, there are simple, step-by-step guides that explain how VPNs work without the jargon.

This is the part where you reassure them that modern VPNs are designed for everyday users, not IT professionals. They are downloaded like any other app, logged into the same way, and laid out to look familiar. Big buttons, simple menus, nothing intimidating. If they can install a banking app or order a grocery delivery, they can use a VPN.

When it comes to actually using it, keep the explanation simple:

• For everyday browsing, they connect to a server in their home country and leave the VPN running in the background.
• If they want to access geo-restricted content, like a streaming service, for example, it's as easy as connecting to a VPN server in a location where the content is readily available.

One tap, a few seconds of waiting, job done.

It also helps to point out that most VPNs make sensible choices for you. Features like ad blocking or tracker blocking are clearly labelled and usually switched on by default. There is absolutely no need to dig through settings or change anything unless they want to.

If they do get stuck, they are not on their own. The best beginner VPNs come with live chat support and multilingual help centres, which means they can ask a real person for help rather than asking you at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

Make it clear that VPN is not a technical hobby. It's just an app, like any other, that runs quietly in the background, doing its job while they get on with their shopping.

A VPN is for life, not just for Christmas

This is the final point to land with your parents, and arguably the easiest one. A VPN is not something that only matters during the festive rush. Christmas just makes the risks more obvious. The benefits stick around all year.

The simplest way to explain it is to walk through what a VPN actually does in everyday life:

1. Encryption
Encryption is useful long after the decorations come down. It protects their connection whenever they are online, especially when using public Wi-Fi in cafés, hotels, airports, trains, or even at work.

Instead of their browsing and logins being exposed on shared networks, everything is scrambled and kept private. It is the kind of protection they benefit from without having to think about it.

2. Servers in different locations
VPN servers are not just for one-off situations. They let users appear as if they are browsing from another country. This can be helpful when travelling, accessing services that behave differently abroad, or avoiding awkward website restrictions.

For normal use, they can simply stay connected to a local server and forget that the VPN is even running.

3. Simultaneous connections
Most VPNs allow multiple devices (some even support unlimited connections) to be protected at the same time under one account. That means they can cover phones, laptops, tablets, and even smart TVs with one subscription. This is an easy way to frame it as something that benefits the whole household, not just one person.

4. Optional extras
If that's not enough, let them know that many VPNs now include additional tools such as password managers, secure search, and private storage. These are optional, but they help reduce how much personal information is scattered across the internet, which is useful far beyond Christmas shopping.

This is usually where the conversation clicks. A VPN is not a seasonal fix or a niche tool. It is a quiet layer of protection that fits into everyday life, doing its job whether it is December or the middle of summer.