The best ways to deal with those annoying cookie approval banners

It feels like a hassle to decline cookies. But telling a website you don't want it to collect information about you often just means one more click. — dpa

They're as ubiquitous as they are annoying: Those banners that pop up every time you visit a new website and ask you whether you approve the use of cookies by that site.

You can't proceed until you make a decision. Most people click approve just to make the banner disappear. But is that the best response?