There’s nearly a 50-year age gap between the oldest Baby Boomer and the youngest member of Gen Z. And for years we’ve heard how different these generations can be, from how they spend their money to how they work to how they use emojis.

We’ve seen “OK Boomer” trend on TikTok as Gen Z criticized their elders, and heard Boomers retort that younger generations should “stop whining.”

But Baby Boomers and Gen Z have something in common that’s often overlooked: Bias is shaping the way we talk about them, allowing stereotypes and myths to drown out facts and reality.

It’s an important point the president of the Pew Research Center made in a recent post. And it’s worth unpacking, because it has big implications for how we can better understand huge swaths of the US population – and the country’s political future.