The U.S.-based website All About Cookies recently conducted a survey which shows that the predecessors of Gen X (i.e.: baby boomers) are more vigilant when it comes to accepting cookies as compared to Gen Z, who are more inclined to consent to cookies.
According to the collected data, most Internet users accept these cookies without giving them any second thought. Almost forty percent of them agreed to do it unthinkingly. Whereas around 25 percent of them would do a background check before consenting. And eighteen percent of the respondents expressed their refusal whenever requested to accept cookies.
Cookies are generally benign, meaning they do not pose any threat to the user’s privacy; however, it is advised to routinely clear them out as well as the cache data for privacy and performance reasons. They are nothing but files that are generated by the websites as a way of collecting analytical data in order to personalise advertisements. These files are not viruses, as they are not able to make more copies of themselves or expand to other files or folders. But they can be used for malicious purposes as they hold information about users browsing activities and can be used as spyware.
The survey revealed that seventy-four percent of U.S. citizens are well aware of the cookie clearing process, whereas twenty-four percent of them think that the clearing process will result in getting them logged out or ejected from the site. To examine the level of awareness of cookies, the respondents were presented with 4 correct and 4 incorrect answers; however, only 10% of them were able to select all the right options. Half of the participants were not able to choose even a single correct option, and the other half got at least one incorrect option.
Based on the responses, it was observed that users believed accepting cookies would open the gate for dangerous files and viruses on the device and could even lead to a breach of privacy.
The survey highlighted a generational gap in knowledge. Sixty percent of the millennials were confident about their knowledge, in contrast to forty percent of both Generations X and Z.
Read next: 7 Jobs that Can Make You Earn Well with the Help of AI Tools
According to the collected data, most Internet users accept these cookies without giving them any second thought. Almost forty percent of them agreed to do it unthinkingly. Whereas around 25 percent of them would do a background check before consenting. And eighteen percent of the respondents expressed their refusal whenever requested to accept cookies.
Cookies are generally benign, meaning they do not pose any threat to the user’s privacy; however, it is advised to routinely clear them out as well as the cache data for privacy and performance reasons. They are nothing but files that are generated by the websites as a way of collecting analytical data in order to personalise advertisements. These files are not viruses, as they are not able to make more copies of themselves or expand to other files or folders. But they can be used for malicious purposes as they hold information about users browsing activities and can be used as spyware.
The survey revealed that seventy-four percent of U.S. citizens are well aware of the cookie clearing process, whereas twenty-four percent of them think that the clearing process will result in getting them logged out or ejected from the site. To examine the level of awareness of cookies, the respondents were presented with 4 correct and 4 incorrect answers; however, only 10% of them were able to select all the right options. Half of the participants were not able to choose even a single correct option, and the other half got at least one incorrect option.
Based on the responses, it was observed that users believed accepting cookies would open the gate for dangerous files and viruses on the device and could even lead to a breach of privacy.
The survey highlighted a generational gap in knowledge. Sixty percent of the millennials were confident about their knowledge, in contrast to forty percent of both Generations X and Z.
Read next: 7 Jobs that Can Make You Earn Well with the Help of AI Tools
