Issues, Etc. Gen Z Women and Online Influencers – Lisa Cooper, 3/25/26 (0831)
Mar 25, 2026
Lisa Cooper, campus ministry leader and writer who studies religion and culture. She talks about how smartphones and short-form content shape Gen Z women’s attention. She defines influencers, maps different Christian online voices, and explains why many young women overtrust online figures. She outlines questions for evaluating influencers and stresses grounding discernment in Scripture and church accountability.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Smartphones Changed How Evangelism Competes
- Smartphones have made evangelism harder because Gen Z prioritizes online engagement over real-life relationships.
- Lisa Cooper says evangelists now compete with constant phone attention and algorithms feeding varied arguments.
The Spectrum Of Christian Influencer Content
- Christian influencer content is wide-ranging: ex‑evangelicals, tradwife influencers, and a murky middle of denominational voices.
- Cooper notes some tradwife creators are Mormon and many voices mix inaccurate or ahistorical claims.
Gen Z Women Spend Hours Daily On Social Media
- Gen Z averages ~9 hours of screen time daily and 63% of Gen Z females use social media over three hours per day.
- Cooper links that heavy use to anxiety and identity problems, citing Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation.
