The 2 aren't mutually exclusive.
Seriously, I wonder if adding those cookie banner impacted tracking in any significant manner, because it definitely significantly impacted the usability of the web.
Seriously, I wonder if adding those cookie banner impacted tracking in any significant manner, because it definitely significantly impacted the usability of the web.
The only world in which your statement makes sense in one where user tracking is assumed to be acceptable and something that must be done. Neither of those things are true.
As others have noted, a ton of sites seem to have just thrown the necessary JS on their site without actually seeing if they needed to, or if they did, if they could make minor changes that would remove the need.
From a usability/user experience perspective, now users have these popups displaying on some number of sites that they visit, often developed with the assumption that they will be accepted by the user.
Based upon some of the experiences I've had, I would say a number of teams neglect to properly test their sites as a user that has not accepted/dismissed the pop-up/overlay.
Through enough repetition the act of opening a new website and immediately clicking away the cookie popup becomes so automatic that people don't bother to read the disclosure, think about whether XYZ site should be tracking them, whether they want to consent or not, etc.
I myself am guilty of just clicking the damn thing without really thinking, and then I realize in horror that I opted-in by accident.