It's not just for protection but also for control, which gdpr excels at. I am able to retain full control over where my data goes, who is allowed to have it, I can make sure it's deleted when I don't want it there, and I can actually request to have it.
I‘m not so sure about that. Sure, in theory this works, but if your data was shared with thousands of companies, how do you know it really was deleted? Furthermore, GDPR still has the thing that businesses are allowed to have a legitimate reason for keeping your data.
So far, as an end user, the GDPR doesn’t feel like anything changed at all. Facebook and Google still gather shitloads of data with zero control on my side. Cookie warnings on every website and loaded with dark patterns (link leads to link, leads to link, leads to link, leads to server timeout). I simply accept these popups and trust uBlock Origin to actually block the whole AdTech shenanigans, instead of relying on their popup bullshit.