How to Save a Billion Hours

null By Mark PennDec. 27, 2023 5:35 pm ET Photo: Getty Images/iStockphotoThe average American spends 6 hours, 58 minutes a day on the internet. That adds up to 536.55 billion hours a year for all of us. We could save billions of hours by addressing inefficiencies introduced mostly by lawyers and politicians: • Accepting and rejecting cookies. Most people don’t even know what cookies are when they answer this question 30 or 40 times a day. It would greatly simplify your day if you could set it and forget it or at least be asked for only certain types of sites, such as medical ones. Blame this one on the European politicians who invented General Data Protection Regulation, which increases the cost of advertising and walls off data for the benefit of big companies while also wasting your time.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8Sponsored OffersGoPro: GoPro Promo Code: 15% off Next Order w/ Email Sign-upSamsung: Secret Samsung Pr

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Opinion Dec 28, 2023 Add to Reading List

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Mark Penn

Dec. 27, 2023 5:35 pm ET

Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto

The average American spends 6 hours, 58 minutes a day on the internet. That adds up to 536.55 billion hours a year for all of us. We could save billions of hours by addressing inefficiencies introduced mostly by lawyers and politicians:

• Accepting and rejecting cookies. Most people don’t even know what cookies are when they answer this question 30 or 40 times a day. It would greatly simplify your day if you could set it and forget it or at least be asked for only certain types of sites, such as medical ones. Blame this one on the European politicians who invented General Data Protection Regulation, which increases the cost of advertising and walls off data for the benefit of big companies while also wasting your time.