Teen influencer Alec Golinger on life in the online world
At just 13, teen sensation Alec Golinger is making his mark. But with his big public profile — including more than 110,000 online followers — comes bullying, jealousy and even sickening unwanted attention.
Inner South
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From afar, Alec Golinger’s life looks picture perfect.
But with his huge public profile — including more than 110,000 online followers — comes bullying, jealousy and sometimes even sickening unwanted attention.
And it has prompted the 13-year-old influencer’s mother to warn other parents about the dangers that sometimes come with social media.
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Alec juggles school with regular paid performing and modelling work, making up to $4000 a day for TV commercials.
But as his mum Lindy scrolls through his seemingly endless “blocked” list on Instagram she says it has been eye-opening realising how many people are attracted to young, prepubescent boys and will go to creepy lengths to get noticed.
His account is constantly bombarded with nasty comments about his body, explicit images and seedy requests — something Alec’s mum, the page’s moderator and also his full-time manager, filters from her son.
She is also careful not to include any personal details on his Instagram, including his school and sports teams, with fears someone will hunt him down.
Lindy said it was “frightening” what kids faced these days.
“I think any parent who doesn’t know what their kid is doing online is a complete worry,” she said.
“You have no idea how much his safety is a concern and you can’t expect kids this age to fully understand.
“There’s tricks to get information and phone numbers and it’s sad I’ve had to have those conversations with Alec.”
The teen was even approached to star as a victim in a documentary about a former paedophile in St Kilda, but while his mum was keen for him to take it on, Alec was adamant in his refusal.
“On Instagram there are already heaps of paedophiles and I think it would give them more of an idea if I did something like that,” Alec said.
“It’s disgusting, older men looking at young boys, and we don’t have a problem with gay men, we just have a problem with people who do those gross things.”
There’s been other challenges too, including people impersonating him, replicating his photos, trying to steal his identity and so-called ‘friends’ using him for shout-outs online.
There was also the bullying when he started Year 7 at a new school this year and people would tease him for being a “soft feminine boy”.
“The first day I got there, one kid was like “look, (he’s that model),” he said.
“I don’t like it when they say, oh you think you’re so good because you have 100k (followers) … and I don’t know if they’re jealous but they just don’t like it.”
The teen’s passion for singing kicked off at age six, when his teacher called his mum and said Alec had perfect pitch and tone.
He joined the Young Voices of Melbourne Choir, and before he knew it, he was dabbling in acting and singing on stage.
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His mum suggested the small screen three years ago after growing up surrounded by entertainment herself, having an agent, and all her friends attending the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
And since Alec’s own TV career kicked off with a Kmart commercial at age 11, he has done 300 modelling jobs in three years, has worked on award-winning short films, and is part of the boys choir for Opera Australia’s latest show La Boheme.
His mum only lets him do one paid job a week, but even then, Alec spends his time juggling scripts and homework almost every night, has up to five rehearsals a week, worked 8am to midnight on one TV set, and is often pulled out of school for a few hours for Bonds, Target or Cotton On commercials.
He often misses out on parties and time with friends, but there’s never any question whether he’ll give it up.
“I enjoy doing it all but it’s hard to keep up with school work and sometimes I have little panic attacks … and get all like stressed out because I have to catch up on school work,” Alec said.
“Sometimes you have so many things in your head … but it is worth it in the end.”
The blue-eyed boy admits modelling is just his way of making money — a standard rate of $85 per hour, or up to $4000 for a commercial, all deposited into an account he can access when he turns 18.
It can be a superficial, nasty and competitive world, with one kid even pushing Alec out of the way on the runway, and people being mean to him after his dog died.
“It’s so gossipy, and sometimes it’s not the kids, it’s the parents,” Alec says.
“There’s some really rude people in the industry … like the show Dance Moms but ‘Model Moms’ instead.”
It’s acting and singing where his true passion lies and his most challenging role so far has been playing a transgender teen on John Sheedy’s award-winning short film Mrs McCutcheon, something that left him in tears on the first day on set.
“Being in a dress as a boy, with 80 other kids being school kids, I actually felt how a transgender kid would feel,” Alec said.
“They knew I was acting but they were still staring at me in a weird way.
“I even started crying on set and was like, oh wow, this is full on.
“That’s part of acting, you get to experience how people are in real life and it helps you with empathy and how other people feel.”
But despite his maturity, when you ask Alec if he thinks he has grown up too fast, he shrugs and says he’s the most immature kid he knows — always doing “dumb stuff” and never looking in the mirror.
He’s way more into playing Fortnite, hanging with his 15-year-old brother, playing soccer, and itching to take a ride on his new electric skateboard.
His mum laughs that she even had to force him to comb his hair and change out of his trackies before the Leader’s photoshoot.
Perhaps surprisingly, he’s not addicted to social media and doesn’t even have a Facebook, Snapchat or personal Instagram account since his old accounts were hacked recently.
“I was actually really happy it got hacked because I can’t be bothered,” Alec said.
“Social media’s led to lots of bad things like cyber bullying and it just takes over people’s lives.
“People are so stuck up in that online world, you just forget about everything in actual life.
“They think it’s perfection but there’s no such thing as perfect and people should be themselves and not care what other people think about you.
“Stop trying to aspire to being someone else when you are who you are.”
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