That hasn't been my experience. Maybe that was the case 10+ years ago, but most people these days understand what they're giving up when using these services. The argument then becomes "I have nothing to hide", "I only use it occasionally", "What's the worst that could happen?", etc. It all boils down to them valuing the experience they're getting over their privacy. I've had these conversations with both technical and nontechnical people, and in nearly all cases I've had to argue in favor of privacy. I've yet to convince anyone to change their habits.

I share and empathize with the feeling of powerlessness, but most people will choose convenience, user experience, etc. over privacy, even when there are reasonable alternatives. Hell, I will sacrifice my own privacy if a service is indispensable and there's no alternative. We can't expect people who value it less to do otherwise.

In my experience, trying to tell an average person the kinds of things that companies can do with their data, which the companies themselves have admitted to and written into privacy policies, just gets you labelled as a conspiracy theorist.

The things companies can, will and promise to do with your data are sometimes so far fetched that people assume they're impossible. At least this was the case 5 years ago, haven't tried persuading anyone in recent years.