Can anyone tell me, in layman's terms...
 

Why I need to have cookies enabled on my browser in order to get into my Gmail account?

So they can track you, etc.

So is the trick to enable them just to open my Gmail, then once in disable them again?

so they can remember it's you and you already logged in.
otherwise you'd have to log in every time you hit a button or click a mouse.

But I've usually logged into Gmail and done other browsing and it hasn't been a problem if I've disabled cookies.
I keep a window/tab open to Gmail.

I just tried this ... as soon as I disabled cookies, Gmale kicked me back to the login screen.

Don't be paranoid .... they already know everything about us :D

Cookies ... meh ;)

likely because you disabled cookies for that tab. not the whole browser.

that notwithstanding. it remembers you logged in. turn it off and it can't remember so you'll get stuck in a login loop.
so either live with it or sack gmail and run your own smtp server.

The gov't already knows more about me than I can remember myself. They made me paranoid if anyone did.
OK, I'll just give in and enable the damn cookies.

the gubmint scans all your emails anyway. so you might as well let google do it too - they at least might offer you a discount coupon or two.

the day the irs offers 10% off for prompt payment is the day i believe in unicorns.

I love chocolate chip cookies!

^^^ One must disable cookies in order to run "lean & mean" .... ymmv :D

Certain sites, certain cookies, you may as well enable. It's your email. They (alphabet, google, gmail) already have all of your mail and know that you check it from time to time. Even without cookies, google will know if/when/how you use your account for any one of its many uses.

Other sites and other cookies, no, I disable or reject.

I use:
-NoScript (blocks automatic running of possibly bad elements) and
-PrivacyBadger (blocks same with cookies) in Waterfox.
-Also Bleachbit occasionally to do a full clean.

Look at your Task Manager and see what is running CNTRL+ALT+DEL.
-Process Explorer from GitHub does the same with more detail and is free.

Facebook has been caught a few times using hidden permanent tracking cookies for users not even on their website. That should have been a federal offensive and too common these days. AKA cyber-stalking. Not enough stink has been made IMO.

Microsoft Edge elements, GlobalAccounts, Widget, etc etc still runs and collects info despite being uninstalled/suspended/disabled to the fullest extent possible. That's another one.

I understand per-session cookies are needed to keep your place on the site and especially for financial transactions. Delete them afterwards.

I use a phone, clear out all cache/cookies on semi-regular basis, but it doesn't bother me to leave them around on the few safe sites I visit .. mostly just Pelican, 1 or 2 others and LOTS of porn sites :D

Gmail is already scanning your emails through their AI. They know more about you than you do. A couple of cookies don’t matter at this point.

Exactly, at this point I just click OK for everything….who really cares, as other said, “they” probably know more about me than I do myself.

I forget stuff ... they don't :(.

I never knew that hippie chick giving out beta 'invites' on a music site really mattered ... last century ;).

She wuz cute ...

I almost never use the browser made by the OS manufacturer (MSIE or Edge or Apple Safari).

I use Firefox with NoScript and uBlock Origins addons for Firefox. A word of warning, there are times when some security measures will make some (few/occasional) sites inoperable. For instance, I can login to the UPS website and see packages that are coming to me, but sometimes for whatever reason a package doesn't show up in the list, so I have to track it. I am unable to track a package by tracking number in FF, I believe because of NoScript. It's not Pi-Hole because I can use Chrome to track via UPS. I believe the UPS site has some transient site that runs a script for a split second so it never shows up in the list of sites to allow. I haven't dug to try to fix it since I so rarely need to track that way and can use Chrome. It's possible that I can put in some sort of generic UPS in a whitelist in NoScript that would fix the issue.

I also use Pi-hole as a DNS filter for crap.

^^^ And you don't connect to g-servers each time you visit here...

Like the rest of us sheep do ;)

Log into gmail in an incognito window.

They can still track everything you say or do, but it will make you feel better about it ;)