I think it's a fad. I'm a big fan of it though and I don't think there's anything wrong with fads in design -- designers don't want to keep doing the same stuff over and over again (I presume).

Maybe you're a busy designer and don't have time (or desire) to always experiment with new techniques. If all of a sudden your industry peers getting excited about something, it's like a signal that says it's okay for you to try this out. I'm not sure if it's a "make efficient use of my time" heuristic about what you should devote your attention to, or a "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" safe bet thing. Probably a little of both.