Which generation refused cookies?
I feel like most look at me like I'm crazy, regardless of age, when I deny/only accept the functional cookies on sites every single visit.
this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
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Yeah, I don't think the two groups of people named in this post have much overlap. They seem pretty distinct to me as well
When the Financial Times published the article, "This Bug in Your PC is a Smart Cookie" on 12 February 1996 I remember quite a lot of people getting upset about it. At the time most were on dialup so you had a different IP assigned every time you connected so the idea you were being tracked in any way was a shock.
I just have my browser set up to delete all cookies whenever I close it. You want to set a cookie, knock yourself out, website.
(I do also have various things that block some, but if more people just had "delete cookies at browser close" as default, that'd be a big deal.)
That would only work if you close your browser.
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Should be denying all. I refuse to use websites that say there are "functional" or "required" cookies. That's bullshit. Also use extension that block and/or scrub cookies.
Some cookies are useful, like the ones keeping you logged in. Not all cookies are created with the sole purpose of tracking you.
And no law on the planet requires a notification for those kinds of cookies.
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Apart from keeping you logged in, like the other commenter mentioned, cookies can for example be used to save the theme you are using (light/dark) or the language you picked. It would be annoying to have to reselect that every time you move to a different subpage.
Your browser passes theme and language recommendations to every site you visit. So outside of passwords, there are fewer reasons for cookies than you may presume.
They're only recommendations. You should still respect the user's choice if they choose something else, which is usually done via cookies.
Theme can use local storage, instead of cookies.
This breaks once you've got server-sided rendering.
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There's UBO filter-lists for that.
There's no need to turn everything into a genration war. Computer literacy and a sense for maintaining privacy comes and goes with different groups of people depending on their upbringing. The ones who cared about their privacy to the point that they would refuse cookies on every site are definitely not the ones who roll over and let the AI agents access all of their data. A lack of good education and deliberate influence of the advertisement and tech industry has led us to this point and snarky flamebait on twitter isn't getting us anywhere.
I agree. Op reasoning is flawed in many ways: both the relation to generations, and the assumption that people who do x are destined to do y.
The most infuriating part of this statement is the supposed relation to generations. It is yet another discriminatory behaviour which usually goes under the radar. Just like it happens within sexism, op has needlessly correlated things to age.
But it makes it easy to understand through the lense of our existing prejudices!
Also, silicon valley must be turned into a radioactive wasteland. California's average habitability will be improved.
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This is not a generational thing. Trying to make it a generational thing is meant to cause divide and deviate discussions about privacy away from the real culprits. Tech megacorporations. Users cannot be held liable for failing to fight indoctrination and propaganda. The proper answer is compassion, education and advocacy. Infighting and arguing only empowers the oppressor. Don't play into their hands by making it a generational thing.
There is some nuance. Talking someone into or out of anything usually gets pretty easy if you can convince them it's part of thier identity. Generational identity is absolutely a propaganda tool... but once you recognize this, it becomes apparent that it cuts both ways
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I'm pretty sure the Venn diagram of "refuses cookies" and "refuses AI" is a circle.
You'd hope, but no. Tech space is littered with "I asked chat-whatever-the-fuck how to delete cookies and it told me that I'm smart" people
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I'd rather say the same people who rejected cookies are also rejecting AI, no?
Can confirm 👍 (source: am said people)
Which generation is that lol?
Please stop with the generational strife nonsense. It only serves as an attempt to distract from class war. We are all in this together against the rich bastards, regardless of our age.
I don't know, I have an extension that refuses cookies.
This makes life safer and easier.
What is this extension? I want it for android on firefox and windows old version on firefox. Hopefully linux soon.
"Consent-O-Matic" or, if you don't care about whether cookies are refused or not and just want the stupid banners gone, "I still don't care about cookies"
Cookie AutoDelete is good on the desktop. It can delete cookies when you quit Firefox, when you switch to another domain, when you close a tab... It's fun.
deleting cookies on close, with exceptios for sites, is a feature that is build into firefox, no need for an extension
if you use librewolf there even is a small toggle for keeping cookies so you don't have to visit the settings every time you want a new site to remember you
Cookie AutoDelete can do that for specific web sites that you choose in a white/black list. I always allow PieFed even when I restart, Google is in the default black list.
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Is it that bad? I see there are people giving full access to AI but I always thought it wasn't so much to refer to it as "a generation".
Remember, the only real separation in society is generated by the upper class!
It's very much not a generational thing. More gen alpha might use AI because they're young and keep up with trends more, but there's still plenty that denounce it and plenty of boomers who accept it.
More gen alpha might use AI because they're young and keep up with trends more
That's not entirely true. There are cases where gen alpha students revolted against AI usage. One of the incidents was about the usage of Chromebooks which forced students to use AI - bottom line is, people where upset.
Literally didn't read the rest of my sentence.
there's still plenty that denounce it
You're arguing my point for me that it's not a generational thing
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What generation is that???
just remember we live in a society
KIDS THESE DAYS, AMIRITE?
It has been interesting to me to hear tech professionals talk about giving AI Agents access to their desktops, and I suppose it's just the next step after people gave everything over to voice assistants.
I've just heard way too many stories of GenAI and LLM products screwing things up in a major way to ever be comfortable with that and never really got into smart home technology on the assumption (now proven correct) that the devices snoop on their users. I have a smart phone but generally keep it in a faraday bag.
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It's the same kind of ppl in each generation that perpetuates enshitification. There are asshole CEOs in every generation, even gen z and alpha, and they'll be selfish pricks just like their predecessors. There are ignorant consumers who care to feel far more than to think, just like previous generations.
A cross section of the population shows more meaningful differences and similarities across generations than there is between them. Young ppl don't want to listen to their elders and elders understand how foolish the young are. If y'all looked across generations for direction from the ppp like you across generations, you wouldn't get so fucking manipulated by marketing and media that you think our problems are generational instead of class or character. It keeps us all divided and struggling while they steal everything and commit a wealth based genocide.
Don't take cookies from strangers.
gen x here. I still refuse cookies. I also refuse AI.
most the people I see promoting AI are millennials and gen z.
🤷 whatever though, nobody will listen to me anyway.
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