"Reality Bytes" is the 4th episode of the fifth season of Pepper Ann. It aired on September 16, 2000.
Synopsis
Pepper Ann ends up addicted to the Internet while researching for a school project.
Plot
Just before Spring Break starts, Mr. Finky assigns the class a project on indigenous peoples. Pepper Ann is upset over this, but Milo and Nicky inform her that they already completed the project and that she should also be finished as well. Nevertheless, Pepper Ann promises to finish it before they go on their hiking trip for the week. When Pepper Ann returns home, the thesaurus is missing because they were dated. However, Lydia informs her that they have faster internet now and she can simply look up the information she needs.
Pepper Ann uses the internet for the first time and immediately becomes hooked by various pop ups and begins communicating with people, specifically an eskimo girl her age. She starts using it to the point that everyone becomes worried for her and practically wastes the Spring Break on chat rooms and reviews. Eventually, Milo and Nicky drag her out and force her to come to the mall with them to get hiking equipment. However, she spots a computer store and begins to buy computer equipment, angering Milo and Nicky who leave.
Pepper Ann has a nightmare that she is in nature with Milo and Nicky, but an unseen force messes with them like a computer. Her reflection tells her that she needs to quit and she finally does. Pepper Ann catches up with Milo and Nicky on their nature hike and apologizes for abandoning them for using the computer. They forgive her and she reveals that the one good thing she got from the internet was a report she managed to do about the eskimo girl. She sees a bunny and runs away scared, due to it being the start of her nightmare from earlier.
Cast
- Kathleen Wilhoite as Pepper Ann Pearson
- Danny Cooksey as Milo Kamalani
- Clea Lewis as Nicky Little
- Pamela Adlon as Moose Pearson, Computer Geek
- April Winchell as Lydia Pearson
- Don Lake as Sherman Finky
- Kath Soucie as Mousy Girl
Trivia
- On Disney+, the episode segment is second next to "Dear Debby".
- A ten-minute download time for a song using a dial-up connection is highly unlikely, especially considering the fact that Pepper Ann was doing other things while the download was going on.
- Lydia cannot use the phone while Pepper Ann is on the internet. Seeing as how the episode is set in 1997-98, though released in 2000, this was back when internet could only be accessed via phone lines.
