People<\/a><\/em>. \u201cMy phone, an old Samsung Galaxy, blew up with text messages and notifications because my number had been leaked,\u201d he says. \u201cMy phone stopped working.\u201d <\/p>\nAlex<\/strong> opened up about how the experience fully changed his life.<\/p>\n\u201cI was a very to myself person, I wasn\u2019t popular,\u201d he told People<\/em>. \u201cAfter the Ellen show, people started treating me differently, bothering me all day, and the news companies would wait outside my high school. The exposure was intense and I ended up having to leave my school and start homeschooling.\u201d <\/p>\nAlex<\/strong> moved to Los Angeles the day he turned 18 to pursue a career in social media, but he \u201chated it so much.\u201d<\/p>\nNow, Alex <\/strong>lives in Sherman, Texas with his girlfriend and he has a much different lifestyle.<\/p>\n\u201cRight now I have a job at UPS, I load the trucks in the morning, and I have to say it\u2019s so much better than doing social media,\u201d Alex<\/strong> said. \u201cThe stress is so much lower. It pays a lot less, but I\u2019m a lot happier doing it.\u201d <\/p>\nHe added, \u201cI never wanted to be \u2018Alex from Target,\u2019 absolutely not. I grew up very quickly. I learned a lot about people, and people don\u2019t always have your best intentions in mind, so I learned a lot about being able to trust others. I got to travel the world, meet a lot of really, really nice people and make some cool connections. It was all a great learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch the Ellen <\/em>appearance below.<\/p>\n\n