One of our occupational therapists recently asked me about cookies. Not the yummy kind. Lately you might have noticed that lots of websites display a message like this one:

A cookie is just a text file that a website put on your computer. That text filet helps the website remember you while you browse from page to page.

Think of a cookie like one of those neon bracelets they put on your wrist when you enter a concert or carnival. The bracelet tells the staff: “Hey, this person paid admission; they get to do certain things.” So when you log in to Outlook, you can read and send mail, and you don’t need to constantly log in all of the time.

So cookies are important! But there are ways to abuse them. Cookies can record information about your Web surfing, and websites can collect that information and sell it to advertisers.

The reason that many websites now post notices about cookies is that it is required by European Union law. For more information: https://www.cookielaw.org/the-cookie-law/