Looks like I’m not the only one who is annoyed with hype around generational issues. Matt at the Signals v. Noise blog talks about the horrible job that 60 Minutes did with a story about Millennials in the workplace. I didn’t see the story, but I’m really not surprised. This kind of hype is popular. And if it makes the Millennials feel any better, the same thing happened to Generation X in the 1990s.

There are a couple of points to remember, though. All hype has a kernel of truth in it. If it didn’t relate to enough people’s experience, it would be dismissed. But one characteristic of hype to look for is the way it makes a particular group look not only ridiculous, but as the source of the problem. If you find yourself feeling relieved that some other group is the source of a problem, then you are probably getting some hype.