
On The Perry Bible Fellowship website, there is a visual text titled Beach Closing. A scene of two children playing on the beach with a beach ball is portrayed. Suddenly, the ball freezes mid-air and they are forced to leave the beach due to it being declared closed. In reality, the beach ball is the loading sign on Mac computers. When it gets stuck mid-air, it does the spinning animation it does when it is loading something. In the final panel, there is a sign which reads, “The beach closed unexpectedly.” The sign similar to the pop-up sign on Mac computers to display something has crashed, further adding to the Mac computed theme. 

At first, the emotions of the figures, depicted to be children, in the text seem to be happy and joyfully playing with a beach ball. They are suddenly surprised in the second panel and seem confused and disappointed that the ball they were playing with froze mid-air. In the final panel, the saddened children and their mother are seen exiting the beach together. The overall design of the text is very colorful which allows for certain aspects of the text to pop out to the viewer more. The beach ball is the best example of this. The brightly colored ball catches the eye most when it is seen spinning in the second panel. 

The visual text may be asking something of the reader. Perhaps the whole idea of the visual text is to show how technology interrupts our lives and distracts us from being together and enjoying life away from the screens. The text may be asking the viewers to try and get out and off the computers and phones which we are all so attached to. In this day and age, there are so many distractions keeping us from going outside and enjoying life without technology. The text may be telling the viewers that they need to get off the screens and get outside. The rainbow loading sign in the second panel and pop-up sign in the third panel may symbolize how technology can interrupt, and ultimately keep us from going outside. 

Our society is so caught up in what’s new in the world of technology and forgets about all the genuine fun people had before technology came into the picture. This idea could be applied literally to the text. The children are playing in the beginning with no sign of technology, but then the Mac loading rainbow ball begins spinning, freezes mid-air, and ruins the fun they were having. It makes sense, because in the tech-crazy society we live in, technology and entertainment usually take precedence over the other areas in life which may also bring us joy. The text may also be hinting at how the younger generations are not getting the well-rounded upbringing older generations got with all the technology taking over their lives. Especially in today’s society, the radical shift to technology infused lifestyles adds to the growing question whether technology is ruining the unpretentious lifestyles of older generations. 

The text also targets our emotions. We may not acknowledge it, but technology is taking over our lives. There are more and more commercials with infants and toddlers playing on iPads and Mac computers. For some, the image might be meaningless and may not have any importance, but for others, the image may jab at the fact that technology as a whole is ruining their lives. The disappointment the children in the visual text may hint at the fact that they don’t want technology to be in their lives, and the fact that they are forced to leave the beach could symbolize how some people are unable to do anything not involving a screen. As a whole, the visual text is trying to tell the viewer that technology may be detrimental to our lives and may hinder us from having a full lifestyle. 

At first, the visual text can appear as a joking group of pictures making fun of slow internet, but when you really think about the message it may be trying to convey, it may change your opinion of technology. The major argument of this visual text is that technology can interrupt our lives and ruin the genuine fun we used to have without technology. Think about that; we can play sports on a screen, we can race cars on a screen, and we can even date on a screen. Life as we know it may be making a radical switch to the screen. Especially now that the new virtual reality headsets came out, life in the screen is more and more plausible. 

To conclude, the visual text Beach Closing has many messages deeper in the pictures than some may notice. The argument that may be made is that technology is having a major impact on our lives, and may be ruining them and keep us from having good old fashioned fun.
