By ALIN HETT
Hays Post
Almost all U.S. teens use the internet daily, and about 4 in 10 say they are online almost constantly, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey.
For young people building an online presence, posts and other activity can remain visible long after the moment has passed.
To view the survey, click here.
That was the central message Chet Kuplen, founder of Think Before You Post and CEO of Sports in Kansas, brought to Hays High School, where he presented to students across all grade levels. He also gave two presentations at Hays Middle School. The presentation was sponsored by Northwest Kansas Juvenile Services.
Kuplen spoke about digital citizenship, online reputations, cyberbullying and the way social media can affect a person’s future. He told students his message was not that they should avoid social media, but that they should understand how widely and quickly online content can travel.
Kuplen said employers may search applicants’ names and review their social media before making a hiring decision.
“The first place that somebody’s going to look when they’re going to offer you any type of opportunity, scholarship, job,or even doing business with you through starting your own business, yes, you have to look at your resume, but that’s probably not the first place they’re looking,” Kuplen said. “They’re going to search you. They’re going to look at your social media.”
He described a hiring decision at his company involving a woman in her late 20s. Her résumé and referrals looked strong, he said, but when he reviewed her social media, he found a profane post she had made in high school about a decade earlier. Kuplen said the post was the reason he decided not to hire her.
Kuplen called the issue one of the biggest challenges facing today’s workforce. He said an online post can follow someone into adulthood, even if it was made years earlier, and affect how a potential employer views that person.
He asked students to think beyond their résumés when preparing to apply for jobs. With employers potentially receiving hundreds of applications, he encouraged students to find ways to introduce themselves, make connections and demonstrate their skills.
Kuplen also recommended job shadows and internships as ways to explore a career, build experience and get to know people in a field.
A social media post can also affect opportunities beyond employment, he said. Students may pursue college, trade school, military service or work after graduation, and Kuplen said online reputations can influence how others view them along the way.
Kuplen said Think Before You Post was never on his “master plan in life” and that the opportunity came to him after he created Sports in Kansas, which began almost 15 years ago, when he was unemployed and had about $200 in his bank account and a cracked iPhone.
He started Sports in Kansas while looking for a way to work in sports. Instead of finding a job, he said, he created a company that continued to grow.
Sports in Kansas covers high school sports across the state. Kuplen said the company has almost 750,000 followers across its platforms and produces radio shows, livestreams, apparel and other sports coverage. He said the company also covers every athlete at the Kansas state track and field meet on television.
That work has given Kuplen firsthand experience with the reach of social media. He said a single post can draw thousands of comments and messages, and that public responses can include both support and harmful remarks.
“I know that I represent much more than myself when I’m putting it out there because it goes out to a lot of people,” he said.
Kuplen told students they also represent more than themselves when they post: including their families, schools and, in the future, their workplaces. Kuplen said a post intended for one person can be captured or shared with a much larger audience.
It was because of the firsthand experience that Kuplen got through social media that he was one day, invited out of the blue to talk to a school about social media presence in 2019.
Think Before You Post began after Kuplen was invited to speak at that school in 2019. At the time, he was known for Sports in Kansas and said he had not planned to become a public speaker.
After the presentation, the school district posted a thank you message about his talk on social media. Kuplen shared the post, and said shortly after, school administrators from all over began contacting him to ask whether he could speak to their students, too. That response led to the creation of Think Before You Post.
Kuplen said the program has since reached more than 1,000 events across the country. Its presentations address online reputation, digital citizenship, cyberbullying and other issues involving technology.
He told students that the same technology that can create problems can also open doors. Social media can help athletes gain attention, connect people with opportunities and give users a way to share their work and ideas.
“One click of a button, good or bad, can go viral,” Kuplen said.
Kuplen said social media can also open doors when it is used positively. He pointed to Jaren Kanak, a former Hays High athlete who now plays tight end for the Tennessee Titans.
A video of Kanak running track went viral, specifically his 10.37 second 100 meter dash during his junior year at Hays High that helped draw attention to himself as college programs recruited him. Kanak eventually received scholarship offers for football.
“It could be positivity. It could be Jaren Kanak going viral and getting an Alabama offer 15 minutes later because that happened,” Kuplen said.
“You can go viral, good or bad. Just know that this is a very, very powerful device,” he added, gesturing toward a phone.
Kuplen also shared real cases of online bullying and involving students who died by suicide. He said he tells these stories to help students understand the serious effects online actions can have and to encourage them to treat others carefully.
“Be careful what you put out there because it could have consequences,” Kuplen said, “but it could have good things happening, too.”