If you’ve been on the internet in the past few years (so… everyone), you’ve likely noticed that nearly every website now greets you with a pop-up:
👉 "We use cookies to enhance your experience. Accept all? Manage preferences?"

Sometimes it feels like you’re not so much browsing as playing an endless game of “Which button lets me read the article fastest?” Welcome to the consent fatigue era.

While the intentions behind privacy regulations like GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), and others are undoubtedly good—giving users more control over their data—the real-world experience has become a UX nightmare.

So, the question is:
Has the privacy-first internet actually improved privacy, or is it just making users click faster without thinking harder?

🚨 What Is Consent Fatigue, Really?

Consent fatigue refers to the overexposure to data permission requests that ultimately leads users to disengage. Much like ad fatigue (when people stop noticing ads), consent fatigue happens when people become desensitised to privacy prompts and start blindly clicking “Accept All” just to make the pop-up go away.

In theory, users now have more autonomy over their data.
In practice? They’re rushing through permissions like it's Terms & Conditions 2.0—aka, "scroll, accept, move on."

🧠 The Psychology Behind It: When Choice Overwhelms

Studies in behavioural science show that too much choice leads to cognitive overload. When you're asked to make the same decision dozens of times a day, you stop processing it meaningfully. This is known as “choice paralysis” or “decision fatigue.”

In short:
More control ≠ better control when the mechanism becomes so annoying or confusing that people just click “yes” without understanding what they’ve agreed to.

And let’s not forget the dark UX patterns—some “Manage Preferences” buttons are practically hidden in a Where’s Wally illustration.

📉 The UX Trade-Off: Privacy vs. Experience

Here’s where the privacy-first dream meets design reality.

On one hand, websites must comply with data laws to avoid massive fines. On the other, they want to retain users who bounce when bombarded with cookie pop-ups. The result is often a clunky user experience:

• Slower load times

• Annoying overlays that block content

• Complex preference panels

• Repeated prompts on every visit

Even The New York Times recently ran a piece titled “I Just Wanted to Read the News. Why Are You Asking Me So Many Questions?”—capturing the frustration of modern web browsing.

🧩 Has It Helped? Or Just Masked the Problem?

Ironically, while users are drowning in privacy prompts, data collection hasn’t necessarily decreased—it’s just become more legally defensible. Many cookie consent tools are designed to nudge users toward full opt-in by making “Reject All” harder to find or adding friction.

A 2021 study by MIT found that only 11.8% of users chose to customise cookie settings, and just 1.1% rejected all cookies. So most people are still handing over their data—they're just doing it more begrudgingly.

🛠️ What Can Marketers and Designers Do About It?

If you’re on the brand or publisher side, this isn’t just a regulatory issue—it’s a trust and experience issue.

Here’s how to do better:

1. Simplify your consent UX: Make it easy to understand. Clear buttons, plain language, no deception.

2. Offer value in exchange for data: Tell users why you want their data and what they’ll get from it. Relevance and transparency build trust.

3. Limit frequency of prompts: Respect consent for a meaningful duration. Don’t re-ask every visit unless settings change.

4. Invest in zero-party and first-party data: Ask users directly for what you need rather than relying on third-party tracking.

🧭 Where Do We Go From Here?

The privacy-first web is here to stay—and rightfully so. But how we implement it matters.

Right now, many websites are ticking the legal boxes without considering the human experience. This isn’t sustainable. If users are overwhelmed, frustrated, or disengaged, no one wins—not even the regulators.

It's time for marketers, publishers, and platforms to design for both compliance and empathy—because respecting privacy doesn’t have to come at the cost of good UX.

Let’s ditch the fatigue and bring back trust, clarity, and a little joy to the digital experience.