A VPN is beyond most users understanding -- even trivial ones -- and guiding someone to a reputable one will be difficult at best.

ISPs may have regional scale, but the big ones, Comcast, Verizon, etc. run significant parts of the internet's uplinks and switching infrastructure, and you can bet it's not just outgoing traffic they snoop. They have been caught with their fingers in the cookie jar many many times. At least with FB and Google you can choose not to use their services and block their trackers. You can't choose where your packets flow, and in many regions there is literally only one option for bandwidth because of local government sanctioned monopolies over the infrastructure.