A reverse proxy still needs “forwarded ports in some capacity”

Nitpicking and very specific case - but it is not necessarily true if you use a VPS to host the reverse proxy. I have a wireguard tunnel in pfsense where I configure my VPS as a peer and all communication between VPS and home happens over that tunnel. Doesn’t require me to open any ports in my home. This also lets me have two layers of access control - through allowed ip in wireguard config and through interface firewall rules in pfsense.

A non tech-savvy person may not be aware of the extent of digital surveillance and the rights they give up on their data unless someone who is aware tells them about it.

Even after becoming aware - the inconvenience of switching to something else forces them to stay in that ecosystem unless someone helps them out of it. Many of them care enough to want to stop or limit their exposure to big tech, but without someone tech savvy to help they won’t know where to start.