> most of what it did was complicate web development

Only for those wanting to track users. Don’t track users, it’s all good, ignore GDPR all you like.

> and force annoying pop ups on everyone.

Pop ups reminding you that all those web sites:

1. Want to track users more than they wanted to avoid annoying users

2. Want to blame the annoying pop-ups on the GDPR instead of, you know, the tracking.

The answer to this can be easily found online, so I'll just repeat my earlier ending: "that people don't even recognize the benefits, or take it for granted"

The whole cookie nonsense is not caused by GDPR at all, it is actually the ePrivacy Directive.

GDPR itself only mentions cookies once and only observes that they can be used to profile people. It contains no instructions on what to do about that.

The majority of GDPR is a bunch of mostly sensible privacy principles, such as if you manage personal data, you have to look after it well, and not use it for purposes it wasn't collected for.